The Virgin and Child Enthroned

CultureVenetian

Datemid-14th century

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 28 1/2 × 20 1/4 inches (72.39 × 51.44 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number41-8

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionIn a shallow niche and against a draped curtain the Virgin is seated on a long bench on which is a cushion. She wears a mantle draped over her gown. On her head is a veil upon which rests a crown. Her right arm is stretched horizontally resting against the frame of the niche, while on her left arm is seated the infant Jesus, robed in a gown over which is a mantle draped around his arms and fastened in front with a jeweled clasp. His hair, forming a full mass at the back of his head, is arranged in small curls. He is giving the benediction with his right hand, while holding an apple in his left. Nimbi are seen behind the heads of the Virgin and of the Infant. The frame of the niche is decorated with leaf-work and rosettes.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

N/A

Gallery Label

This Virgin, enthroned as Queen of Heaven, and the Christ Child who bestows a blessing with his right hand, were most likely created to be the central section of the front of a sarcophagus on a tomb. Since the Virgin extends her hand, this gesture may have been intended to direct attention to flanking reliefs of other figures, perhaps the deceased with an interceding saint whom she greets. Her chubby face is similar to faces by Andriolo, a sculptor who worked in Venice in the mid-14th century, whose workshop may have created this fragment.

Provenance

C. and E. Canessa, New York, by March 21, 1922;

Purchased from C. and E. Canessa by William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), New York and San Simeon, CA, March 21, 1922-March 31, 1941 [1];

Purchased from Hearst by Gimbel Brothers, Inc., New York, March 31, 1941;

Purchased from Gimbel Brothers, through Hammer Galleries and Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1941.

NOTES:

[1] William Randolph Hearst Archive, Long Island University Post (S/B lot 455, art. 90, Album 43, p. 4).

Published References

Art Objects and Furnishings from the William Randolph Hearst Collection (New York: William Bradford Press, 1941), 298, as A Marble Bas-Relief, Middle of XIV Century.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993).

Dorothy Gillerman, Gothic Sculpture in America, vol. 2, The Museums of the Midwest (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001), 223-24, (repro.), as Virgin and Child.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 40, (repro.), as The Virgin and Child Enthroned.

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