The Morning Virgin

This ivory statuette of the 'Mourning Virgin' is made in about 1700 probably in Spain. At purchase it was attributed to Spain and catalogued as 'La Virgen de los Dolores', but then later thought to be German by Longhurst. The figure must have once been positioned at the foot of a cross. The style of this piece suggests it is more likely to be Spanish. Bought in Paris by John Charles Robinson (1824–1913), who was the 19th-century curator of sculpture. It is largely due to Robinson that the V&A now houses one of the world's foremost collections of Renaissance sculpture. He travelled through Europe during the 1850s and 1860s, pursuing works of art then available on the market as a result of turbulent times in Italy, France and Spain.