POLYCRHOMED WOODEN SCULPTURE. “VIRGIN WITH CHILD”. AROUND FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY.

Freestanding polychrome wood carving. “Virgin with Child.” First half of the 16th century. The Virgin stands on a polygonal pedestal, with the Child supported by one arm. He raises his arms towards his Mother. Both blonde and very light-skinned, she also wears a crown or headdress with plant motifs, which are also presented on the edges of her cloak. The iconography of the Virgin with Jesus is already present in the early Christian catacombs, specifically in those of Priscilla in Rome, in an image from the 3rd century AD. C. However, the recognition of Mary as Theotokos (“Mother of God”) at the Council of Ephesus in 431 was capital for this topic. It was noted in the Byzantine Empire, both in icons of the Theotokos and those of the Hodegetria. (“she who shows the way”), who appears pointing to Jesus. It was these prototypes that came to the West from the Romanesque, but it was necessary to wait for the Gothic period for the relationship between Mother and Son to develop and take shape. The present devotional carving is heir to those Gothic “Virgins of Tenderness” that were highly valued throughout Europe and whose representation continued during the Renaissance in some specific places and times. A series of elements put the work in relation to examples from northern Europe and France, such as faces and hair. It is the cloths, the corporeality of the image and its correct anatomy, which can be glimpsed, that place the work within the Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance influence arrived in Spain with great differences according to regions and artists, and we can speak of a first stage in which a marked Gothicism was maintained on which some slight influence of this new artistic style can be seen.

· Size: 16x20x55 cms.