• Paris, c. 1364 
  • Marble 
  • Inv. 207

Virgin and Child

Jean de Liège

Attributed to Jean de Liège, sculptor to the King of France, Charles V, this very fine image is remarkable not only for the nobility of the material from which it is made, marble, but also for the superb handling of the folds of the mantle. Some traces of gold still remain on the border and originally the statue was encrusted with precious stones that have now disappeared along with the crowns of the Virgin and Child.

This work was probably originally from the Cistercian Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, in Paris. It ornamented the façade of a baker’s shop, near the abbey, so became known as the Virgin of the Baker.

The rather elongated proportions of the Virgin leaning at the hip and of the Child, showing an affectionate relationship with the mother, frequently occur in works produced in the second half of the 14th century and were part of a phase of expansion of the Marian cult.

Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Cistercian Abbey Collection, Paris (?); Engel-Gros Collection. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian, through Duveen, at the sale of the Engel-Gros Collection, Georges Petit Gallery, Paris, 1 June 1921 (lot 600).

H. 63; W. 20.5; D. 13 cm 

Figueiredo 1992

Maria Rosa Figueiredo, French Sculpture. Catalogue of European Sculpture, vol. I. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, 1992, pp. 18–23.

Lisbon 2001

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, 2001, p. 87, cat. 63.

Updated on 09 june 2022

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