The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 5, 2023

Virgin Nursing the Christ Child

c. 1370

France, Île de France

Painted limestone

Overall: 111 x 38.5 cm (43 11/16 x 15 3/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1984.157

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The back of this sculpture is unfinished since it would have originally been placed against a wall or pier.

Description

This sculpture of the Virgin Mary nursing the Christ child subtly emphasizes the intimate relationship between mother and child and brings the Son of God in his human existence closer to the viewer. The emotional interaction is characteristic of sculpture since the mid-1300s, especially in the circles close to the court of the French kings in Paris and Emperor Charles IV (reigned 1346–78) in Prague. These novel stylistic tendencies were possibly a reaction to the fear and uncertainty incurred by the first great plague wave in 1348.

Provenance
?-1984
(Ellin Mitchell Works of Art, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art).
1984-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (1985). no. 115, p. 176 & 200 www.jstor.org
Gillerman, Dorothy W., Joan A. Holladay, and Susan L. Ward. Gothic Sculpture in America. 1989. No. 232, pp. 314-15
Lutz, Gerhard. “Art in the Time of the Black Death.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 Winter 2021): 8. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 8.
Exhibition history

Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.157