Probably Salzburg circa 1410/20
A carved wood figure of the Virgin and Child, probably Salzburg, circa 1410/20
Carved three-quarters in the round, the reverse flattened and deeply hollowed out. Partially overpainted older polychromy. A figure of the Virgin and Christ Child designed for a frontal viewpoint. The Virgin carries the Christ Child over Her hip whilst He holds a bunch of grapes in His hands and She offers Him an apple. The gently swaying pose of the Virgin which creates an S-shaped curve, the deep, rounded hollows of the drapery, and the cascades of fabric to either side of the figure mark this piece as a so-called "schöne Madonna", or "beautiful Virgin", of the International Gothic style, to be dated to around 1400. The work's similarity to a figure of the Virgin presumed to originate in Salzburg or Bohemia in the Düsseldorfer Kunstmuseum dated to around 1410 (inv. no. 1934-8) allows us to suggest a similar attribution.
Wear with minimal losses. Cracks to the plinth. Height 106 cm.
Provenance
Private collection, Württemberg.
Literature
For more on comparable "beautiful Virgin" figures in Düsseldorf cf. exhib. cat.: Die Parler und der Schöne Stil 1350-1400. Europäische Kunst unter den Luxemburgern, vol. 2 ed. by Anton Legner, Cologne 1978 (Ausstellung des Schnütgen-Museums Köln), p. 692, illus.