Statuette of the Virgin and Child, carved limestone, Lorraine, France, ca. 1325

The Standing Virgin holds the suckling Christ-Child in her left arm. The group's appearance was radically altered in 1960, when it was cleaned and it was discovered that the right hand and wrist of the Virgin, the left arm of the Christ-Child and two finials on the front of the Virgin's crown were restorations. Extensive traces of pigmentation still survive, although this is not original in most places: on the Virgin's mantle and gown there are remains of blue paint, the swaddling cloth of the Child is red and the faces retain flesh tones, with red on the lips. The figure is carved in the round.
Following the lines of both arms to their logical conclusion, it seems likely that they would have come extremely close and were probably touching. This intimate relationship of Mother and Child is shown in a number of other Virgin and Child groups from Lorraine.

Certain characteristics such as the fine-grained limestone, the swaying posture, the slightly square faces of the Virgin and Child and the linear treatment of the drapery associate the present statue with a large group of Standing Virgins made in Lorraine in the fourteenth century. This figure is closely related to the earliest group of Lorraine Virgins such as the one in the cloister of the cathedral in Saint Dié, another Virgin in Saint Dié, the Virgin and Child from Châtenois now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and another in the Parish church of Le Grand Thon. All of these figures are either still preserved in Vosges area of Lorraine or come from there.The iconographic type of the Maria lactans, the Virgin suckling the Child, emphasizes the intimate relation of the Virgin and the Child.

The production of a large amount of groups of the Standing or Seated Virgin and Child in nearly the same style with slight variations during the fourteenth century and its export into other regions such as the Rhineland may indicate that they reproduce several different types of highly venerated devotional images.

Sculptures of the Virgin and Child usually show her holding a flower or other item and him sitting upright on her left arm. But some diverge from the norm. Here, the Virgin is shown suckling the Christ Child. Their hands have broken off but originally they were probably touching.

Similar Virgins are found throughout the Lorraine and the Lower Rhine region, but the closest in style is a Virgin and Child from Chatenois, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

6964:1, 2-1860