Virgin and Child

This panel of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child is a copy of a work in the style of the 15th-century Florentine sculptor Desiderio da Settignano which had been acquired by the Museum in 1866 (inv. no. 66-1866). Nichols had also exhibited a bronze bust, Clytie, at the Society of Arts Art-Workmanship Competition in 1864, and exhibited there again in 1867. Thomas Nichols (c.1822-c.1891) worked as a silver chaser and sculptor in London. The highly-worked surface of this relief indicates his training as a goldsmith. His daughter Frances (born c. 1847 in London) was also active as a silver chaser. Two other bronze versions of the renaissance original were acquired by the Museum in this same year, 1868, both likewise prize-winners in the Society of Arts Art-Workmanship competition, one by H.C. Hatfield Senior (inv. no. 858-1868), and the other by S. Beresford (inv. no. 856-1868).