Lot n° 30
Estimation :
80000 - 120000
EUR
Virgin and Child in limestone, carved in... - Lot 30 - Coutau-Bégarie
Virgin and Child in limestone, carved in the round, hollowed out back with traces of polychromy and gilding. Seated on a bench with a cousin, Mary supports her Son standing on her left leg with a delicate gesture of her left hand, which passes behind the Child's body; a wiggle makes her arch her back, giving her a certain distance from her Son. She wears a crown adorned with cabochon-set gems. A short veil holds back her abundant, wavy hair.
A beautiful oval face, with almond-shaped eyes whose eyelids are doubly highlighted, the curve of the eyebrows in continuity with the lines of the nose; the mouth is finely smiling and half-open, the chin is round, the cheeks delicately outlined by a slight hollowing after the nasal lines.
She is dressed in a gown adorned with a pectoral brooch, blousante above the gold-plated waistband; a mantle is draped over her shoulders, held in place by a cordelière, with one side falling to her knees, forming a multitude of folds, either beaked or hose-like.
On the terrace, a lion embraces a cub beneath the Virgin's feet.
The bench is adorned with a vegetal frieze in the upper and lower parts.
Ile de France, circa 1270-1280
H. 116 cm
(some accidents and missing parts, restorations)
Provenance: former Louis and Ernesta Stern collection, Paris, and their descendants, including during the Second World War.
This is undoubtedly a jewel of Gothic art, following in the footsteps of Parisian Marian statuary from the second quarter of the 13th century. For stylistic analysis, we can compare it with a sculpture that is highly emblematic of this period: the statue of the Virgin from the Sainte-Chapelle treasury in the Louvre (inv OA57) (fig a). This ivory sculpture from Parisian workshops was probably a gift from Saint Louis. It perfectly expresses the current canons, with its slight sway, supple, particularly slender body and extremely fine facial features. The statuette's high level of refinement and harmonious proportions explain why it was admired and imitated from the outset, inspiring numerous imagiers.
More monumental sisters, such as the Vierge aux pieds d'argent de Saint-
Corneille in the Musée Antoine Vivenel (inv B 445) (fig b). It was a gift from Louis IX to the Abbey of Saint
Corneille de Compiègne in 1267. The short veil, the dress cinched at the waist by a gold-worked belt, the movement of the arched body and the draping system with large "beaked" pleats staggered on one side and a cascade of piped pleats on the other are all paralleled here.
But it's not just the imagier's chisel that can be used to pinpoint the period in which such a sculpture was created. There are iconographic details to be observed that reflect the literary and theological thinking of a particular period.
Let's start by looking at the sculpture at the Virgin's feet.
We see a reclining lion embracing its cub with a certain tenderness. Virgins with Child have been depicted trampling demonic animals, symbolic of evil, to illustrate the verses of the Apocalypse. Two others, from the first third of the 14th century (one in Langres cathedral and the other in the hospices of Tonnerre), have the burning bush at their feet to parallel the revelation of God's name in the Old Testament and the Incarnation in the person of Jesus.
But here, we're faced with an unprecedented representation. To understand it, we need to look for its significance in the bestiaries of the Middle Ages, which endow the lion with a Christological dimension. It is the emblem of the tribe of Judas, the tribe of King David from which the Messiah descended.
In Le Bestiaire d'Amour, a work by Richard de
Fournival (1201-1260), written around 1245 and preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, it is stated that the "lyon revives its lyonciaux", as its breath is capable of restoring life to its stillborn young after three days, fol 18 (fig c). This representation is therefore a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of this
Jesus standing on his Mother's lap.
Let's turn now to the expression on the Virgin's face, which radiates a perfect beauty revealing an inner happiness. Thirteenth-century Virgins have an emblematic smile that says much more than the inner joy and peace experienced by motherhood. If the mouth is half-open and the lips finely stretched, if the cheeks deepen into subtle commissures, it's also the eyes that are deeply marked by this woman's smile. Why is her smile so highly placed in the face? Pou
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