The simple patterning of the drapery lends elegance to this figure of the Virgin, while her slightly slumped shoulders, forward tilt, and placid gaze might suggest both fatigue and acceptance of her new role as the mother of Jesus. Traces of the medieval painted decoration are preserved. The Virgin’s proper right eye, made of blue glass, is original. The other eye is a recent replacement. This is one of only a few Romanesque sculptures in wood from Burgundy to survive. The patterning of the drapery and the heavy-lidded eyes relate this piece to the sculptures of the cathedral of Saint-Lazare at Autun, such as the Angel (47.101.16) exhibited in this gallery.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Enthroned Virgin and Child
Date:ca. 1130–1140
Geography:Made in vicinity of Autun, Burgundy, France
Culture:French
Medium:Birch with paint and glass
Dimensions:40 1/2 in. × 13 in. × 11 1/4 in. (102.9 cm, 28.5 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Object Number:47.101.15
Abbé Victor Terret, Autun (by 1925) ; [ Jean Peslier, Vézelay (sold 1935)] ; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1935–1947)]
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition," February 17–March 24, 1940.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Grand Gallery," October 19, 1974–January 5, 1975.
Terret, Abbé Victor. La sculpture bourguignonne aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles, ses origines et ses sources d'inspiration: Autun. Vol. 2. Autun: Abbé Victor Terret, 1925. p. 63, Frontispiece v. 2.
Hamann, Richard. "Die Salzwedeler Madonna." Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft 3 (1927). p. 104, Plate XLIV.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 168, p. 53.
Freeman, Margaret B. "A Romanesque Virgin from Autun." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 8, no. 4 (December 1949). pp. 112–16.
Rorimer, James J. "'Reports of the Departments,' Incorporating the Eightieth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1949." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 9, no. 1 (Summer 1950). p. 22.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Mediaeval Art in Fort Tryon Park, New York. 11th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1951. pp. 26–28, fig. 12.
Grivot, Denis, and George Zarnecki. Gislebertus, sculpteur d'Autun. Paris: Trianon Press, 1960. pp. 159–60.
Zarnecki, George, and Denis Grivot. Gislebertus: Sculptor of Autun. New York: Orion Press, 1961. p. 176, pl. D15.
Quarré, Pierre. "La Vierge en majesté d'Autun aux Cloisters de New York." Actes du Congrès de l'Association Bourguignonne des Sociétés Savantes (1963). pp. 60–61.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. pp. 54–56, fig. 21.
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Sauerländer, Willibald. "Zu dem romanischen Kruzifix von Moissac." In Intuition und Kunstwissenschaft: Festschrift für Hanns Swarzenski zum 70. Geburtstag am 30. August 1972, edited by Peter Bloch. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1973. p. 304.
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Sapori, Giovanna, and Bruno Toscano. La Deposizione lignea in Europa: L'immagine, il culto, la forma. Catalogo Regionale dei Beni Culturali dell'Umbria. Studi e prospettive. Milan: Electa, 2004. p. 460.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 9, pp. 34, 193.
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