Said to have come from the collegiate church of Notre-Dame at Huy in Belgium, these figures were probably part of a large sculptural retable behind the altar. They are stylistically related to the marble Virgin and Child (see 24.215), ordered in 1345 for the church of Saint Catherine at Diest, Belgium.
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L-R: 26.101.6, 26.101.7
Artwork Details
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Title:The Centurion and Two Soldiers, from a Crucifixion Group
Date:ca. 1340–50
Geography:Made in Meuse Valley, Netherlands
Culture:Franco-Netherlandish
Medium:Marble, gilding
Dimensions:Overall: 26 7/16 x 8 7/8 x 4 1/4 in. (67.2 x 22.5 x 10.8 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:Gift of Archer M. Huntington, in memory of his father, Collis Potter Huntington, 1926
Object Number:26.101.7
Collegiate Church, Notre-Dame, at Huy, Belgium; Private Collection, Huy; Charles Stein, Paris (?); John Edward Taylor, London (until 1912); his sale, Christie's, London(July 1–4, 9 &10, 1912, no. 195); [ Jacques Seligmann, Paris (in 1912)]; Arabella Duval Huntington, New York; Archer M. Huntington, New York (until 1926)
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," June–December 1989.
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," February–July 1990.
Destrée, Joseph. "Groupes en albâtre provenant de l'église collégiale de Huy." Bulletin de l'Institut Archéologique Liégeois 41 (1911). pp. 75–79, pl. 1.
Catalogue of the renowned collection of works of art, chiefly of the mediaeval and Renaissance times, Greek and Roman antiquities, French 18th century furniture and old Chinese porcelain, formed by the late John Edward Taylor. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, July 1–9, 1912. no. 195, p. 56, ill.
Destrée, Joseph. "A propos des deux groupes en albâtre provenant d'un retable de l'église collégiale de Huy." Chronique Archéologique du Pays de Liège 7, no. 7 (July 1912). pp. 85–86.
Breck, Joseph. "A Gift of Tapestries and Sculpture." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21, no. 6 (June 1926). pp. 143–46.
Devigne, Marguerite. La sculpture mosane du XIIe au XVIe siècle, contribution à l'étude de l'art dans la région de la Meuse moyenne. Paris: G. van Oest et cie, 1932. p. 58.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 193, p. 59, pl. LVII.
The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1962.
Müller, Theodor. Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966. p. 198, n. 17.
Forsyth, William Holmes. "A Group of Fourteenth-Century Mosan Sculptures." Metropolitan Museum Journal 1 (1968). pp. 45–55, fig. 6.
Nickel, Helmut. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. New York: Atheneum, 1969. p. 52, illus.
Legner, Anton, ed. Rhein und Maas: Kunst und Kultur 800–1400. Volume 1, Der Katalog. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 1972. p. 383.
Ragghianti, Carlo L. "Il maestro mosano di Carrara e bilinguismi pisano-francesi." Critica d'Arte 20, no. 129 (1973). p. 22.
Didier, Robert. "Skulpturen des Maasgebiets aus den Jahren 1330-1360." Westfalen 55 (1977). p. 21.
Lemeunier, Albert. "Deux marbres mosans du XIVe siècle." Bulletin de la Société d'Art et d'Histoire du Diocèse de Liège 53 (1978). p. 97.
Lemeunier, Albert. "Un Christ en croix, marbre mosan du XIVe siècle." Bulletin de la Société d'Art et d'Histoire du Diocèse de Liège 54 (1980). pp. 1–4, fig. 2.
Didier, Robert. "Sculptures mosanes et marbres blancs au XIVe siècle." In Foire des antiquaires de Belgique. Brussels: Chambre Royale des Antiquaires de Belgique, 1990. n.p.
Pushkin Museum and State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki: Kratkii Katalog Vystavki. Moscow: Pushkin Museum, 1990. no. 56, pp. 12, 38, fig. 56.
State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 1990. no. 56, pp. 118–19.
Didier, Robert. La Sculpture Mosane du XIVe Siècle. Monographies (Musée des arts anciens du Namurois), Vol. 2. Namur: Société Archéologique de Namur, 1993. pp. 22, 24, 32, 38, 43, 57 n. 8, fig. 69b.
Wixom, William D. "Medieval Sculpture at the Metropolitan: 800 to 1400." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 62, no. 4 (2005). p. 43.
Le Pogam, Pierre-Yves. Les premiers retables (XIIe-début du XVe siècle): Une mise en scène du sacré. Paris: Musée du Louvre Editions, 2009. p. 88, fig. 33.
Treasures: Princely Taste. London: Sotheby's, July 4, 2012. p. 72, fig. 1.
Kunz, Tobias. "Importation de matériau ou migration transalpine? La Vierge pisane conservée au Bode-Museum de Berlin et le problème des Madones mosanes en marbre." In Les transferts artistiques dans l'Europe gothique: Repenser la circulation des artistes, des œvres, des thèmes et des savoir-faire (XIIe-XVIe siècle), edited by Jacques Dubois, Jean-Marie Guillouët, and Benoît van den Bossche. Paris: Picard, 2014. p. 253.
Woods, Kim. "Towards a Morphology of Netherlandish Altarpieces in Alabaster." In Niederländische Kunstexporte nach Nord- und Ostmitteleuropa vom 14. bis 16. Jahrhundert: Forschungen zu ihren Anfängen, zur Rolle höfischer Auftraggeber, der Künstler und ihrer Werkstattbetriebe, edited by Jiri Fajt, and Markus Hörsch. Studia Jagellonica Lipsiensia 15. Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2014. p. 42.
Giovanni Pisano (Italian, Pisa ca. 1240–1319 Siena)
ca. 1301, with later additions
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