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Vierge à l'Enfant sur un trône

ca. 1175–1200
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 304
Plus que la représentation d’une mère et de son enfant, cette composition où la Vierge tient fermement le Christ sur ses genoux met en lumière le rôle du Christ enfant comme personnification de la sagesse divine. Jésus tenait sans doute un livre, pour renforcer le message. La sculpture est d’une austère beauté, qui s’exprime dans les plis rythmés de la robe de la Vierge, la délicatesse du voile qui encadre son visage et les traces de peinture qui subsistent, notamment le vert du coussin. Objets de dévotion, les statues de ce genre étaient portées en procession. Celle-ci contenait probablement des reliques saintes. Elle est percée de deux cavités : l’une derrière l’épaule de la Vierge et l’autre, dans sa poitrine.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Titre: Vierge à l'Enfant sur un trône
  • Date: v. 1150–1200
  • Aire géographique: Auvergne
  • Culture: Français
  • Technique: Noyer, peinture, gesso et lin
  • Dimensions: 79,5 x 31,7 x 29,2 cm
  • Crédits: Don de J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916
  • Accession Number: 16.32.194a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

Audio

Uniquement disponible en: English
Cover Image for 82. Virgin and Child in Majesty, Part 1

82. Virgin and Child in Majesty, Part 1

Gallery 304

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ED VESSEL: The brain is intimately attuned to the minute differences in shape and arrangement of the hands. For example, understanding the particular meaning conveyed by particular hand grasps.

NARRATOR: Due to the condition of this sculpture, some important hand gestures have been lost.

GRIFFITH MANN: You see the hands of the Virgin Mary reaching around to hold the Christ Child, but Christ's arms and hands are missing. His right hand, which is extended towards us, would have been making a gesture of blessing, with two fingers raised up. And then his left hand probably would have been holding a book representing the Word made Flesh in the figure of Christ.

MELANIE HOLCOMB: The hand is a powerful symbol for a Medieval viewer. Many, many images from the Middle Ages will sometimes only represent God by a hand, because the hand suggests that we can't understand the whole body, the whole outline of God.

NARRATOR: Learn about this sculpture’s context. Press play.

    Listen to more about this artwork

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