Painted, gilded wooden statue of woman with crown holding baby
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A light-skinned woman stands on a low red pedestal. She wears a tall gilded crown, a white veil, and a long blue-and-gold robe. She has delicate features and bright red cheeks.. She looks down toward her right side, where she holds a nude light-skinned baby with curly hair. The baby’s legs are crossed. He also has bright red cheeks. He grasps the woman’s veil with his left hand and holds a round red fruit in his right. The woman stands atop a gold crescent. Below this crescent is a large carving of half a man’s face.

Gallery Text

Known as a “Schöne Madonna” (Beautiful Madonna), this figure was probably kept in a parish church; and as the centerpiece of an altar or shrine, it would have been an object of local devotion. The pedestal, a sculptural component that rarely survives, contains a glass-covered hole that may once have held a relic or may have been a container for offerings from the devout. Mary’s delicate features, the sway of her body, and the Christ child grasping her cloak emphasize her humanity, encouraging the intimate, personal prayers of the viewer. As is common in medieval art, the work presents multiple Christian ideas simultaneously: the Virgin is a gentle, caring mother, who also wears a crown marking her as the Queen of Heaven. Dressed in gold, she is the woman “clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet,” described in the book of Revelation. The figure of Adam, asleep below the crescent moon, refers to the fall of mankind and his redemption by Christ.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR63.2
People
Unidentified Artist
Title
The Virgin and Child
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1430
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Austria, Tyrol
Culture
Austrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299820

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2500, European Art, 13th–16th century, Art and Image in Europe
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Polychromed and gilded wood
Dimensions
155 x 48 x 31 cm (61 x 18 7/8 x 12 3/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[A.S. Drey, Munich, Germany (by 1914-?) ]. Walter von Pannwitz collection, Munich and Berlin, Germany (by 1925-?), sold; [to Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY (?-1963), sold]; to Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1963.

Notes:
In the 1914 “Festschrift des Münchner Altertums-Vereins zur Erinnerung an das 50 Jähr. Jubiläum” the work is listed as being in the collection of A.S. Drey (fig. 22, p. 41). Later the work is included in the 1925-1926 von Pannwitz collection catalogue (vol. II, no. 115, M.J. Friedländer and Otto von Falke, “Die Kunstsammlung von Pannwitz,” 1925-1926).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Antonia Paepcke DuBrul Fund
Accession Year
1963
Object Number
BR63.2
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
possibly poplar

Publication History

  • Franz Wolter, Bayerische Plastik des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts: Beitrag zur Forschung und Geschichte, Festschrift des Münchner Altertums-Vereins zur Erinnerung an das 50 Jährige Jubiläum (Munich, Germany, 1914), pp. 29-98, pp. 47-48, repr. p. 41 as fig. 22
  • Max J. Friedlander and Otto von Falke, Die Kunstsammlung von Pannwitz, Verlaganstalt F. Bruckmann A.-G. (Munich, Germany, 1925-26), no. 155 p. 12, repr. as pl. 115
  • Theodor Müller, Mittelalterliche Plastik Tirols, Deutscher Verein für Kunstwissenschaft (1935), pp. 57-58, 132 (note. 12) , repr. as pl. 131
  • "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums", Art Quarterly (Summer 1963), Vol. 26, No. 2, 249-277, p. 250, repr. p. 252
  • Charles L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture, 1280-1800, the Harvard Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1965), p. 12, cat. no. 9 pp. 52-54, rep. as frontispiece and pl.X
  • Anneliese Harding, German Sculpture in New England Museums, Goethe Institute (Boston, MA, 1972), pp. 10, 12, 13, repr. p. 29 as fig. 23
  • Dieter Grossmann, "Der Meister von Seeon", Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft (Marburg, Germany, 1974), vol.19, p. 121, repr. p. 111 as fig. 51
  • Theodor Müller, Gotische Skulptur in Tirol, Tyrolia-Verlag (Vienna, Austria, 1976), p. 430, repr. as fig. 51
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, "The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard: the Germanic Tradition", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 403-413, p. 411, repr. p. 413 as fig. 10
  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), pp. 13, 104, repr. pp. 104-105 and back cover
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 347, p. 294, repr.
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Gothic Sculpture in America, I: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, 1989), no. 153 pp. 192-193, repr.
  • James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), pp. 326-327, repr. color
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Melissa Katz and Robert A. Orsi, Divine mirrors : the Virgin Mary in the visual arts, ed. Melissa Katz, Oxford University Press (UK) (Oxford, England and New York, NY, 2001), p. 80, repr. p 82 as fig. 78
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 233

Exhibition History

  • Ancient to Modern, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2500 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu