Virgin and Child thumbnail 1
Virgin and Child thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Virgin and Child

Relief
ca. 1425-1450 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This relief exists in two versions. In style it falls midway between the stucco reliefs associated with Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) and those in the style of Jacopo della Quercia (1374-1438) in the Museo Bardini and Museo di Santo Spirito in Florence. The elongated body of the Child has no close parallel in other contemporary stucco or terracotta reliefs and suggests that the group was originally set over a doorway or in a lunette.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Relief
  • Niche
TitleVirgin and Child (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted stucco
Brief description
Virgin and Child, relief in painted stucco and in a carved wood niche, Italy (Florence), about 1425-50
Physical description
'Virgin and Child', relief in painted stucco. The Virgin seeen half-length, supports the Child who stands at her left side holding an apple and pulling the folds of her mantle round his shoulders. In a carved wood niche.
Dimensions
  • Height: 92.7cm
  • Width: 72.4cm
Object history
Bought for £75 from Sotheby's on 4th March 1932.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This relief exists in two versions. In style it falls midway between the stucco reliefs associated with Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) and those in the style of Jacopo della Quercia (1374-1438) in the Museo Bardini and Museo di Santo Spirito in Florence. The elongated body of the Child has no close parallel in other contemporary stucco or terracotta reliefs and suggests that the group was originally set over a doorway or in a lunette.
Bibliographic references
  • MacLagan, E, and Longhurst, Margaret, H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. London: V&A, 1932. pp.16
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964. p.61
  • Raggio, Olga. 'Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum' in Art Bulletin Vol. L. 1968. pp. 100.
  • Johnson, Geraldine. 'Art of artefact? Madonna and Child reliefs in the early Renaissance' in The Sculpted Object 1400-1700 eds. Currie, S and Motture, P. Aldershot. 1997. p.4, 14, n.20, fig. 17.
  • Carl, Doris. Benedetto da Maiano. A Florentine Sculptor at the Threshold of the High Renaissance. Regensburg. 2006. pp.100-101, n.19.
Collection
Accession number
A.11&A-1932

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Record createdFebruary 24, 2004
Record URL
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