Mourning child with a skull thumbnail 1
Mourning child with a skull thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 56, The Djanogly Gallery

Mourning child with a skull

Statuette
1700-1720 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This statue of a child holding a skull was made to be placed on a tomb, and to serve as a memento mori (reminder of death). This piece and its pendant, thought to represent a girl and boy respectively, were probably designed to flank the sculpted portrait of the deceased.

Materials & Making
Tombs in Britain in the 17th and 18th century were often carved from marble, or occasionally alabaster. Marble was imported, generally from Italy via The Netherlands. It was considered an appropriate material for funerary monuments, partly because of the associations with ancient Roman sculpture, and because of its supposed durability.

Subject Depicted
A long tradition of depicting symbols of death existed in west European art. The skull and the hourglass symbolised decay and the passing of time, while the sorrowing child was an allegory, albeit informal, of sorrow. Direct Christian imagery was avoided in British funerary sculpture after the Reformation, and allegory became more common.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMourning child with a skull (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Marble
Brief description
Statuette, marble, Mourning Child with Skull, anonymous, possibly by Edward Stanton or Thomas Stayner, England, ca. 1700-1720
Physical description
Statuette, marble. Seated mourning and resting her left arm on a skull. With her right she raises towards her ees an end of the scarf which is draped round her.
Dimensions
  • Height: 43cm
  • Width: 29cm
  • Maximum depth: 21cm
40 S.Kosinova estimate Dimensions checked: measured; 22/04/1999 by DW length of leg to bum: 11.5cm
Gallery label
British Galleries: From Medieval times, English funeral monuments often included weeping figures to accompany images of the dead. Chubby, naked children were common motifs in the Restoration period. They often express strong emotions, as here. Their vitality is contrasted with the hourglass that symbolises the brevity of life, and the skull that represents the finality of death.(27/03/2003)
Object history
Probably from a church monument. Carved in England by an unidentified maker. Purchased from Maurice Spero Esq., 23 Brook Street, London, in 1938, together with V&A Mus. No. A63-1938, for £20.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
This statue of a child holding a skull was made to be placed on a tomb, and to serve as a memento mori (reminder of death). This piece and its pendant, thought to represent a girl and boy respectively, were probably designed to flank the sculpted portrait of the deceased.

Materials & Making
Tombs in Britain in the 17th and 18th century were often carved from marble, or occasionally alabaster. Marble was imported, generally from Italy via The Netherlands. It was considered an appropriate material for funerary monuments, partly because of the associations with ancient Roman sculpture, and because of its supposed durability.

Subject Depicted
A long tradition of depicting symbols of death existed in west European art. The skull and the hourglass symbolised decay and the passing of time, while the sorrowing child was an allegory, albeit informal, of sorrow. Direct Christian imagery was avoided in British funerary sculpture after the Reformation, and allegory became more common.
Associated object
A.63-1938 (Pair)
Bibliographic reference
Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie. British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V& A Publications, 2002. pp. 156-7. cat. no. 112.
Collection
Accession number
A.62-1938

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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