This figure comes from the cathedral of Strasbourg, in eastern France. Do you remember the wooden statue of the Virgin that we saw a few stops back? If you compare that figure with this one, you can appreciate the difference between Romanesque and Gothic sculpture. The Romanesque example was majestic and austere, but the sculptor of this statue has made the Virgin graceful and life-like; her youthful face wears a slight smile, and her mantle faithfully imitates the folds of heavy cloth. This statue was made for a structure called a choir screen, which is a tall, richly decorated barrier that divided the choir and clergy from the lay congregation in medieval cathedrals. The statue was placed high above the floor there, and so it is here too. It’s one of the few fragments that remain from the choir screen of Strasbourg Cathedral.