The Virgin and Child
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the sculpture
This ivory statuette was made in about 1220-30 in France, probably Paris or Reims. The statuette represents the Virgin holding the Child on her lap.
This is the earliest Gothic ivory in the V&A's collection. In its rigid frontality, with both figures looking straight ahead with inexpressive features, it belongs in the tradition of the late twelfth century as manifested in the stone Virgin and Child of the Porte romane at Reims Cathedral of about 1180-85. But the fuller draperies, with restrained Muldenfaltenstil on the chest of the Virgin, and the broad faces of the figures allow closer comparisons with monumental sculptures in Paris and Reims of the years 1215-35. The Muldenfaltenstil was current in both Paris and Reims.
Read on
Three dimensional images of the Virgin and Child were ubiquitous from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, produced in a wide range of materials and sizes and testifying the overwhelming devotion to th Virgin. Together with the Crucifixion, statues and statuettes of the Virgin and Child were the pricipal objects of devotion in the Christian Church, and vast numbers were made for ecclesiastical, monastic and private worship.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 206-1867
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
