A POLYCHROME CARVED WOODEN GROUP OF THE MADONNA AND CHILD

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

A POLYCHROME CARVED WOODEN GROUP OF THE MADONNA AND CHILD
SPANISH, 13TH CENTURY

On an integrally carved wooden base; the reverse hollowed out; the visible portions of the Madonna's throne carved from two separate pieces held in place with wooden dowels.
Wear to polychromy and some areas refreshed; worming; cracks; damages; restorations.
40½in. (102.9cm.) high

Literature

J. Boccador, Statuaire Médiévale en France de 1400 à 1530, II, Zoug, 1974, pp. 311-2, pl. 345

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Ars Hispaniae, VIII, A. Durán Sanpere and J. Ainaud de Lasarte, Escultura Gótica, Madrid, 1956, figs. 35, 55, 122

Lot Essay

As Boccador (loc. cit.) has pointed out, a residual Byzantine influence may be detected in this Madonna in Majesty, but the style is unmistakeably Iberian. Interesting parallels may be drawn with the Madonna and Child in the tympanum of the portal of St. John on the main façade of León cathedral, the Madonna of Villalcázar de Sirga, and the Virgen del Sagrario in the cathedral of Plasencia (Ars Hispaniae, loc. cit.). The coat-of-arms on the step of the throne supports the idea of a Castilian provenance.

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