Statuette, painted limewood, The Virgin Seated, probably by a follower of Hans Wydyz, Germany, ca. 1520

The Virgin is seated on a throne, her body turned to the right with outstretched arms. She wears a waisted gown under a mantle which is drawn across her knees. Her mantle is caught at the chest by a mantle-cord. She wears a headband and her long wavy hair falls over her shoulders. The figure is carved from on piece and has been roughly hollowed out at the back, with a rectangular carved knob, almost certainly a fixing device, at the top of the back of the figure. It shows signs of severe worm-infestation. A partly damaged label is attached to the back with an inscription in black ink, "Herrn Walter...". Losses along the edge of the mantle are evident.

Bought from J. Rosenbaum, Frankfurt am Main, for £13 8s. 10d.

The figure probably came from the corpus of an altarpiece, and was considered at the time of acquisition to be Frankonian. The style and the facial type however, recapitulate formulae of Upper Rheinisch sculpture of the early 16th century.

This statuette of a Virgin is carved in painted limewood. The Virgin is seated on a throne, her body turned to the right with outstretched arms.

The figure probably came from the corpus of an altarpiece, and was considered at the time of acquisition to be Frankonian. The style and the facial type however, recapitulate formulae of Upper Rheinisch sculpture of the early 16th century.

It is suggested that the Virgin was made by a follower of the sculptor Hans Wydyz, a sculptor of whom not much is known about. Wydyz was active in Freiburg/Breisgau, where he was recorded from 1497 to 1510, and probably later in Strasbourg.

110-1908