Bruges Madonna

The cast of the Bruges Madonna is today displayed alongside other casts of sculpture of Michelangelo in the east Cast Court, devoted entirely to reproductions of Italian works of art. It is probable that the surface of this cast was left unfinished to illustrate the complex network of piece molds required to make such a reproduction. Since they were first opened in 1873, the two magnificent Cast Court galleries at the V&A have displayed reproductions of some of the most significant monuments of medieval and Renaissance Europe. In these galleries one can view plaster casts of sculptures from Renaissance Italy, notably some of the masterpieces produced by Donatello, Luca della Robbia and Michelangelo.

The sculptures are faithful copies of the originals. They were made in the 19th century, when the vogue for replicated works of art was at its height. Museum visitors at that time generally had little opportunity to travel abroad, and illustrated art books were costly. These superb casts could afford people a rare glimpse of the original sculptures, even if they could not visit Florence or Rome. Artists and designers then and now could likewise sketch and learn from them. The painted surfaces of these reproductions often mirror the original stone or bronze, and the casts seem convincingly monumental. But they are made of plaster, a relatively fragile material.

The original sculpture was purchased by Jean and Alexandre Mouscron, cloth merchants of Bruges with establishments in Rome and Florence. They shipped the Madonna to Bruges in 1506. There it was installed on an altar in the church of Notre Dame, and framed by a tabernacle of black and white marble designed by Jan de Heere of Ghent and his son Lucas and completed by 1571.