Description
From the Quattrocento onwards, devotional images of Mary appeared and multiplied in Italy.
Placed within a gilded frame from the Flamboyant Gothic period, with fluted pilasters and foliate consoles, supporting a pointed arch with multiple arches; adorned with rosettes at the spandrels and decorated with fleur-de-lis pinnacles; the Virgin rests on a delicate sculpted openwork frieze framed by two shields patterned with cut-out leather.
The kneeling Virgin is depicted in a three-quarter view, holding the infant Jesus lying on her knees. Her head is tilted slightly to the right, and her hands, with their long, slender fingers, are clasped in a gesture of adoration.
The veiled mantle covering her head is almost a headdress, concealing her hair. It falls over her shoulders and chest in a flat, elongated pleat of particularly elegant suppleness. However, the mantle is treated in a completely different manner in the lower section, in an antique-style, more lively crumpled pattern.
The infant Jesus, depicted naked, has thick curls of hair. As he dozes, he rests his cheek on his hand. The Virgin Mary covers him with a piece of her cloak and watches over him with gentleness and kindness.
The Virgin Mary’s face is very gentle, with a rounded forehead and a straight nose, full cheeks, and small lips.
This wooden applique, designed to adorn the choir of a church, is an extremely rare work of exceptional quality. It was carved in the Venice region. Indeed, architectural elements in the same International Gothic style as Gentile da Fabriano can be found in the Ducal Palace of that city.
Comparative Study :
Museo civico di Torino, Intaglio Veneto, Secolo XV
Gothic carved, Gilded and polychromed Bas relief