  About the Artwork
  
  
  The workshop of Michel Erhart was one of the most successful in Ulm, a prolific center of wood sculpture during the late Gothic period. This imposing life-size Virgin, originally polychromed and gilded, would have been the central figure in a large altarpiece. Here, Mary holds an energetic child, who interacts with the viewer rather than with his mother. The crescent moon beneath the Virgin’s feet is an allusion to the biblical description of the Apocalyptic Woman (Rev. 12:1–5), who appears clothed in the sun with the moon at her feet.
  
  
  Title
  Virgin and Child
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1480
  
  Artist
  Circle of Michel Erhart
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  ca. 1440-after 1522
  
  
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Linden wood with traces of polychromy and gesso
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 64 × 17 1/2 × 13 inches (162.6 × 44.5 × 33 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Ralph Harman Booth
  
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  22.3
  
  
  Copyright
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