Virgin and Child, Burgundy 3/4 of the 15th

This beautiful sculpture in almost round relief depicts the Virgin Mary standing, carrying the Christ child on her right arm. Carved from fine and soft limestone quarried near Tonnerre, it is striking in its monumental design, despite its modest size. This is based in part on the Virgin's thick, ample cloak, deeply carved with interlocking V-shaped folds, rolled up over her left arm and cascading down her right leg. This drape is emblematic of the taste for heavy fabrics observed in Burgundian sculpture. In the 15th century, Burgundian sculpture, a favourite with lovers of old sculptures, was strongly influenced by the work of the ducal workshop, which produced the famous Jean de Marville, Claus Sluter, Claus de Werve, Jean de la Huerta and Antoine le Moiturier. It is on the basis of these key figures that art historians have established the framework within which Burgundian works have been distributed for over a century, despite the grey areas surrounding the artistic personalities and careers of some of them, such as Jean de la Huerta.
Our Virgin and Child has some of the same stylistic characteristics as the corpus attributed to her. This is the case, for example, of the draped cloak that covers our figure, but also of the Virgin's full face, marked by small almond-shaped eyes and a ball-shaped chin enhanced by a small mouth with a sulky expression. These features are found in some of the finest works attributed to the Master, such as the Virgin of Pesme and the Virgin of the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare in Autun. The latter shows a long, finely wavy head of hair, similar to that of our Virgin, which here blends into the thick lapel of her cloak that has formed over her left breast. This motif has a fine equivalent in the late 15th-century Virgin and Child from Bucey-lès-Gy, which also shares the gentle, youthful features of our sculpture. The same motif can be found on the Virgin and Child of Verjux, whose impressive drapery offers a sumptuous alternation of cascading folds and interlocking V-shaped folds similar to those on our Virgin's cloak. More sober and uncluttered in character, the latter finds an even more faithful parallel in the Virgin of the church of Saint-Martin in Blaisy-Haut, also made in the last quarter of the 15th century.