Sorrowing Virgin thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Cast Courts, The Ruddock Family Cast Court, Room 46A

Sorrowing Virgin

Statue
ca. 1900 (made), ca. 1520 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The expressive statue of the Virgin originally formed part of a crucifixion group. The original wood sculpture in Nuremberg is painted and gilded – surface decoration that was typical for South German sculpture at that time. In contrast, the plaster cast is monochrome. This could reflect a taste for unpainted sculpture in Britain when it was acquired in 1900, or possibly the Museum wanted to demonstrate form over colour in the cast.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Sorrowing Virgin
  • The Virgin Mary (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted plaster cast
Brief description
Plaster cast of a statue of the Virgin by Monsieur L. Mathivet, Paris, about 1900, depicting the Sorrowing Virgin. The original was made about 1520.
Physical description
Plaster cast of a statue of the The Virgin Mary, ca. 1520, depicting the Sorrowing Virgin from a crucifixion group in the Germanisches National museum, Nuremberg.
Dimensions
  • Height: 150cm
Production typeCopy
Gallery label
  • 3. Cast of Unknown artist The Sorrowing Virgin About 1520 The expressive statue of the Virgin originally formed part of a crucifixion group. The original wood sculpture in Nuremberg is painted and gilded – surface decoration that was typical for South German sculpture at that time. In contrast, the plaster cast is monochrome. This could reflect a taste for unpainted sculpture in Britain when it was acquired in 1900, or possibly the Museum wanted to demonstrate form over colour in the cast. Cast Monsieur L. Mathivet About 1900 Painted plaster Paris, France Museum no. Repro.1900-30 Original Carved, painted and gilded wood Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg(04/07/2018)
  • This expressive statue of the Virgin, known as the Nuremberg Madonna, originally formed part of a crucifixion group. The original wood sculpture is painted and gilt, such surface decoration epitomising South German sculpture of that date. The plaster cast conversely is monochrome, possibly reflecting the taste in sculpture in Britain when it was acquired in 1900. There was an increased interest in German sculpture from the time of Dürer in this country in the late 19th and early 20th century. Perhaps this was partly because such emotive works were felt to be in contrast with the often classicising style of Italian renaissance sculpture of the 15th and 16th century. Holly Trusted
Object history
Cast of a statue of the Virgin craeted in Paris, France by Monsieur L. Mathivet about 1900 and purchased from the Royal College of Art, London in 1900 (amount unrecorded). The cast is of the Sorrowing Virgin, which was sculpted by an unknown artist in Germany, about 1520.


Historical context
Making plaster copies is a centuries-old tradition that reached the height of its popularity during the 19th century. The V&A's casts are of large-scale architectural and sculptural works as well as small scale, jewelled book covers and ivory plaques, these last known as fictile ivories.

The Museum commissioned casts directly from makers and acquired others in exchange. Oronzio Lelli, of Florence was a key overseas supplier while, in London, Giovanni Franchi and Domenico Brucciani upheld a strong Italian tradition as highly-skilled mould-makers, or formatori.

Some casts are highly accurate depictions of original works, whilst others are more selective, replicating the outer surface of the original work, rather than its whole structure. Like a photograph, they record the moment the cast was taken: alterations, repairs and the wear and tear of age are all reproduced in the copies. The plasters can also be re-worked, so that their appearance differs slightly from the original from which they were taken.

To make a plaster cast, a negative mould has to be taken of the original object. The initial mould could be made from one of several ways. A flexible mould could be made by mixing wax with gutta-percha, a rubbery latex product taken from tropical trees. These two substances formed a mould that had a slightly elastic quality, so that it could easily be removed from the original object. Moulds were also made from gelatine, plaster or clay, and could then be used to create a plaster mould to use for casting.
When mixed with water, plaster can be poured into a prepared mould, allowed to set, and can be removed to produce a finished solid form. The moulds are coated with a separating or paring agent to prevent the newly poured plaster sticking to them. The smooth liquid state and slight expansion while setting allowed the quick drying plaster to infill even the most intricate contours of a mould.
Flatter, smaller objects in low relief usually require only one mould to cast the object. For more complex objects, with a raised surface, the mould would have to be made from a number of sections, known as piece-moulds. These pieces are held together in the so-called mother-mould, in order to create a mould of the whole object. Once the object has been cast from this mother-mould, the piece-moulds can be easily removed one by one, to create a cast of the three-dimensional object.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The expressive statue of the Virgin originally formed part of a crucifixion group. The original wood sculpture in Nuremberg is painted and gilded – surface decoration that was typical for South German sculpture at that time. In contrast, the plaster cast is monochrome. This could reflect a taste for unpainted sculpture in Britain when it was acquired in 1900, or possibly the Museum wanted to demonstrate form over colour in the cast.
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1900-30

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Record createdOctober 4, 2006
Record URL
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