The Virgin and Child
Statuette
19th century (made)
19th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This ivory statuette representing the Virgin and Child was made in the South Netherlands in the 19th century. The Virgin and Child - and the hexagonal base - are copied from the celebrated Notre-Dame de Foy, a cult image made popular by the large numbers of pilgrims to the church in which it is kept, near Dinant in Belgium. The Notre-Dame de Foy itself is a late cast of a mass-produced Virgin and Child, the moulds for which were made in Utrecht in about 1430-50.
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 ecclesisastical, monastic and private worship.
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 ecclesisastical, monastic and private worship.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Virgin and Child (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Elephant ivory |
| Brief description | Statuette, ivory, the Virgin and Child, South Netherlandish, 19th century |
| Physical description | Statuette in ivory, the Virgin and Child. The standing Virgin crowned, supports the Child holding an apple, on her right arm and holds his feet with her left hand. She wears a crown and stands on an integrally-carved hexagonal base with a triple arcade on the front and back faces and with single round oculi on the others. The infat Christ is dressed in a short tunic and holds an orb in his right hand. The back of the Virgin is fully carved, with six long tresses of hair falling down from under her veil. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Formerly in the Hearn Collection, Menton. It was probably acquired afte Alfred Williams Hearn's death in 1903 by his widow Ellen Hearn, and may be the 'Small ivory figure, Madonna', listed in her notebook, bought from Thomas Sutton in Eastbourne in February 1907; given by Mrs Hearn in 1923. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This ivory statuette representing the Virgin and Child was made in the South Netherlands in the 19th century. The Virgin and Child - and the hexagonal base - are copied from the celebrated Notre-Dame de Foy, a cult image made popular by the large numbers of pilgrims to the church in which it is kept, near Dinant in Belgium. The Notre-Dame de Foy itself is a late cast of a mass-produced Virgin and Child, the moulds for which were made in Utrecht in about 1430-50. 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 ecclesisastical, monastic and private worship. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.42-1923 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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