Virgin and Child

between 1325 and 1350

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

While displaying an open book to the viewer, the Christ child turns to gaze at his mother. This sculpture, with its softly modeled drapery and graceful posture, is undoubtedly similar to the French examples that inspired the lyricism of Nino Pisano’s Virgin (DIA acc. no. 27.150). The sculpture is characteristic of French Gothic art of the fourteenth century, when Paris played a dominant role in Europe. Paris was the capital of the powerful Capetian monarchy, the seat of a bishop, the site of a great university, and a major trade center. This elegant “Court Style” was highly influential across Europe during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Title Virgin and Child

Artwork Date between 1325 and 1350

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Marble with traces of polychromy

Dimensions Overall: 40 × 14 × 8 1/2 inches (101.6 × 35.6 × 21.6 cm) Overall (pedestal): 40 1/2 × 29 × 25 inches (102.9 × 73.7 × 63.5 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 40.1

Markings

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Provenance

ca. 1789-1799, possibly (Saint-Denis, France).
possibly Bossy collection (Paris, France).
William Randolph Hearst collection (New York, New York, USA);
Henry Schniewind (New York, New York, USA).
(Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York, New York, USA);
1940-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Robinson, Francis W. "A French Gothic Virgin of the Fourteenth Century." Bulletin of the DIA 19, no. 7 (April 1940): pp. 74-76, p. 75 (ill.).

DIA Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 69.

Moskowitz, Anita Fiderer. "A Madonna and Child Statue: Reversing a Reattribution." Bulletin of the DIA 61, no. 4 (1984): pp. 34-47, p. 45 (fig. 18).

Aubert, M. Description Raisonnée des Sculptures du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des Temps Modernes, vol. 1: MOYEN AGE. Paris, 1950, pp. 141-142, no. 204.

Suckale, Robert. Studien zu Stilbildung und Stilwandel der Madonnen Statuen der Ile-de-France Zwischen 1230 und 1300. Diss., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich, 1971, p. 198.

Gillerman, Dorothy. Gothic Sculpture in America, vol. II. The Museums of the Midwest. Turnhout, 2001, p. 137, no. 104.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

French, Virgin and Child, between 1325 and 1350, marble with traces of polychromy. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund, 40.1.