Virgin and Child

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Virgin and Child

Artist School of Troyes (French)

Place of Originpossibly Troyes, Burgundy, or Champagne, France

Dateabout 1500

Dimensions49 1/2 × 18 × 14 in. (125.7 × 45.7 × 35.6 cm)
base: 16 1/2 × 11 × 1 1/2 in. (41.9 × 27.9 × 3.8 cm)

Mediumlimestone with traces of paint and gilding

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1958.14

Not on View

Collections

Sculpture

Published References"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October-December, 1958," The Art Quarterly, vol. 22, 1959, p. 78, repr. p. 79.

La Chronique des Arts, Supplement à la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 1092, January 1960, p. 52.

Pantheon, vol. 18, 1960, p. xliv, repr.

Toledo Museum News, Summer 1960, New Series: Vol. 3, no. 3, p. 59, repr.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., Medieval Art (handbook), 1964, repr. and described on inside of back cover.

Wixom, William, Treasures from Medieval France, Cleveland, 1967, p. 328.

"Medieval Art at Toledo: A Selection," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 443, repr. (b&w) fig. 19.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

"Christman Treasures," Go [Marathon Oil Co. General Office News], vol. 18, no. 50, Dec. 21, 1973.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 27.

Gillerman, Dorothy, ed., Gothic Sculpture in America, II: the Museums of the Midwest, Turnhout, Brepols, 2001, pp. 389-390, no. 274, repr. p. 389.

Label TextThe Virgin Mary, crowned as the Queen of Heaven, gazes down lovingly at the Christ Child while tenderly caressing her son’s foot. Jesus holds an apple, a symbol of his role as the redeemer of humanity’s Original Sin when Adam and Eve at the forbidden fruit. He looks out at the viewer, creating a tension between this quiet moment and an inner awareness of his role as both savior and sacrifice. The stone carver has masterfully activated the figures with the movement of the thick folds of drapery and the evident forward sway of Mary’s stance. The refined beauty of the figures and emphasis on the intimate relationship between mother and child is characteristic of Gothic art.