Description
HISTORIC
Located between the valleys of the Moselle and of the Meuse, framed up north by the duchy of Luxembourg and by the Vosges in the south the duchy of Lorraine is the fruit of successive partitions. First during the 9th century with the partition of the Carolingian empire when Lothair I inherits Lotharingia. This territory was then divided between Lower-Lotharingia and Upper-Lotharingia in 959. The later became duchy of Lorraine, depending on the Holy-Roman empire until 1736 when it enters the kingdom of France.
Nevertheless all along its history the duchy of Lorraine has been in the midst of many conflicts. Alliances and feuds marking their eras also marked the duchy rendering it sometimes unstable. Because of its geographic position the duchy was also a true crossroad of artistic influences.
It allowed Lorraine to become by the late 13th century a significant artistic centre where was developped a particular style of Virgin and Child. According to professor Schmoll, the characteristics of the Lorraine sculpture appear around 1280-1300 in the Aube region. Its presents « robust volumes, restrained movements, scarce but solemn gestures and an internalized and severe expressivity ». Those Virgins show a similar appearance with a large forehead, a full-oval face, strong neck, thin lips and a cleft chin.
DESCRIPTION
This well preserved 14th century Virgin carved in the round in a hard limestone shows a rich polychromy.
Standing, the Virgin’s swaying pose is well expressed, and inspired by the weight of the child she carries naturally on her left side.
The majestic bearing of this statue is enhanced by the movement of the drapery of the mantle falling like an apron.
Her child with well-defined curls is dressed in a long red tunic that reveals his little feet. With his childlike and amused expression, he turns towards his mother, playing with the goldfinch perched on the Virgin’s chest. With his right index finger, he teases the bird’s beak, and with his left hand, he holds a sphere, a symbol of the Christian world.
Mary wears a draped blue coat covering a red dress. Her forehead is adorned with a crown that holds a short veil, revealing her wavy hair, characteristic of the 14th century. This delicate face, with almond-shaped eyes, a straight nose, and a small mouth with thin lips, topped with a small chin, retains the distant gaze so emblematic of the Virgins of the 14th century.
The exact origin of this Virgin and Child is unknown to us but can with no doubt be attributed to Lorraine. The subject of the Virgin presenting the Child on her left knee can be seen throughout the kingdom of France during the 13th and 14th century and especially in Lorraine.
« The bird [held by the Child] have been seen as an evocation of an episode from the childhood of Jesus when He modelled sparrows from clay and gave life to it. It can be found in the apocryphal gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (27) or in the Qur’an (III, 43, 110). However the bird can be better read as a symbol of Redemption or Eucharist, the bird being the redeemed soul ».
This Virgin was supposed to be seen from every angles. Because of its small dimensions the sculptures could have been ordered for an oratory and used for private devotion. Indeed during the 14th century the Virgin and Child and the Marian cult have known a renewed interest expressing a new spiritual sensibility and a more intimate religious observance.
Literature
William H. FORSYTH, Medieval Statues of the Virgin in Lorraine related in type of the Saint-Dié, Metropolitan Museum studies
J. A. SCHMOLL, gene. Eisenwerth, Die Lothringische Skultur des 14. Jahrunderts, Michael Imhof Verlag, D-36100 Petersberg, 2005
Musée du Louvre, Nouvelles acquisitions du département des sculptures (1992-1995), Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1996, p. 18-21