This sculpture originally stood high on the choir screen of Strasbourg Cathedral. Its place of honor near the center was marked by a canopy with angels holding a crown over the Virgin’s head. A rosebush stood next to Mary and the now-missing Child, linking Mary with Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of the Messiah: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root." The choir screen was removed in 1682, as part of a wider effort to allow the faithful to see the altar.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Virgin
Date:ca. 1250
Geography:Made in Strasbourg, Alsace, present-day France
Culture:German
Medium:Sandstone with original paint and gilding
Dimensions:Overall: 58 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 14 1/2in. (148.6 x 47 x 36.8cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Accession Number:47.101.11
From the former choir screen of the Cathedral of Strasbourg; C. Joret, Paris ; [ Henri Daguerre, Paris ] ; J. H. Fitzhenry (until d. 1913) ; his sale, Christie, Manson and Woods (November 18-19, 24-26, 1913) ; [ Alphonse Kann French, Paris (1/2 interest sold 1933)] ; [ Demotte Inc., Paris and New York (1/2 interest sold 1933) ] ; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1933–sold 1947) ]
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Eighty-five years ago today, on June 12, 1925, The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased a collection of medieval sculpture and architectural fragments from George Grey Barnard (1863–1938), a prominent American sculptor and collector. This acquisition formed the nucleus of what would become The Cloisters, the branch of the Museum located in Northern Manhattan and devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.
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The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.
