Alabaster Virgin and Child. Southern Netherlands.

This delicate alabaster sculpture depicts the Virgin nursing the Christ Child, or Virgo Lactans, one of the most intimate subjects in Marian iconography at the end of the Middle Ages. Seated frontally, Mary holds the Child close to her in a compact composition. The Virgin has a full oval face, a high forehead, and wavy hair falling softly on either side. Her lowered eyes, heavy eyelids, straight nose and small closed mouth create a calm and introspective expression. Neither dramatic nor pathetic, her face conveys a quiet, almost contemplative tenderness, characteristic of Marian imagery in the Southern Netherlands around 1500.

The nude Child is rendered with a particularly sensitive roundness. His body is plump and fleshy, contrasting with the more elongated and nervous types of the International Gothic style during the 15th century.
The most significant stylistic parallel is the Virgin and Child in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 10816, Bruges, circa 1480-1500. Although this work is a painted oak panel rather than a sculpture, the facial type is remarkably close: high forehead, full oval face, lowered eyelids, small closed mouth, and a calm, silent expression. A second, earlier point of comparison is provided by the Virgin and Child in the MSK Ghent, inv. 1914-DN, in polychromed alabaster, dated circa 1440-1450 and located between Germany and the Netherlands.
Full documentation available on request.
References consulted:
· La sculpture des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la Principauté de Liège, XVe et XVIe siècles, Antoinette HUYSMANS dir., Brussels, Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, 2000.
· Sculptures brabançonnes du musée du Louvre. Bruxelles, Malines, Anvers, XVe-XVIe siècles, Sophie GUILLOT DE SUDUIRAUT, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001.
· Late Medieval Sculpture in the Metropolitan, 1400–1530, Wixom, William, 2007