the Virgin crowned, holding the Christ Child on her proper left hip, the Christ Child wearing an open cloak and a cap, with canopy (3)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters, deaccessioned
French & Company, New York
Private collection Dr. Wolfgang Hofstätter and the🐻nce by d🍸escent

J. Breck, 'Some Sculptures of the School of Troyes', Metropolitan Museum Studies 1929-1930, vol. II, pp. 13-28; 'La sculpture troyenne du XVIe siècle en exil: essai de recensement', La vie en Champagne, no. 309 Spécial, Regards sur l'école Troyenne de Sculpture du XVIe siècle, April 1981, fig. 5

The Virgin and Child: A few traces of polychrome remain. The right hand of the Virgin and the left hand of the Child are missing . The right arm of the Child has been replaced. Overall surface dirt in particular to lower section. The tips of the noses appear to have been restored. Two sections of the border of the Virgin's cloak have been reattached and may be replacementsand there is a series of holes on her right flank which have been filled. Overall scratches and chips consistent with age. The Canopy: This is contructed in two sections which fit togeter and which have attament partures on the back.The upper section has had the finial knocked off into three pieces which have now been reattached. Minor sections of tracery missing.
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Combining dignity and genre detail this large stone Virgin and Child successfully balances divine stateliness and earthly charm. Despite her crown, the Virgin adopts an informal pose, her hip jutting out to take the weight of the Child, and her belt tied nonchalantly to one side. This genre-like depiction continues in the figure of the child. His elaborate, miniature gown is fastened with a single button at the throat and left open to reveal a chubby belly and limbs. He wears a neat linen cap over his curls and a beaded necklace, probably intended to represent a coral necklace worn by children in the sixteenth century to protect them from evil spirits.

According to the author of the Sculpture troyenne article, the pose, the playful infant and the heavy drapery with its richly decorated border all indicate an attribution to a Troyes workshop. However, certain differences in style are noted, particularly the large placid face of the Virgin, which might suggest the influence of Burgundian or Flemish trends. Joseph Breck also identifies the group as troyenne, and, citing the animation of the group and the turbulent drapery, he dates it to a transitional period. As Breck writes, there is no sharp line between Gothic and Renaissance styles in Troyes. The shift is witnessed by a slow transformation of the drapery from simple folds to crumples and bunches and a growing elaboration of ornament, simulating goldsmiths work. The present group perfectly illustrates these changes and Breck dates it to between 1520 and 1530. As Breck notes the cloak is draped across the body in a gesture reminiscent of 15th-century troyenne groups of the Virgin and Child, but it is turned inside out, bunched and with a long pendant end.

The present group bears comparison with the slightly later Virgin and Child groups emanating from the Saint Léger workshop described by Raymond Koechlin and Jean-Jacques, Marquet de Vasselot, and in particular with the group from Le Breuil-sous-Orbais, now in the Musée de Cluny. The Breuil Virgin dates to between 1530 and 1535. The wide face of the Breuil Virgin with her small smile, as well as the lively figure of the Christ Child with his open gown and necklace echo the same motifs in the present group. However, groups associated with the Saint Léger workshop are characterised by a certain coquettishness and delicate handling of detail which are not emphasised in the present Virgin and Child. This difference would seem to support an earlier date for the present group.

RELATED LITERATURE
R. Koechlin & J. de Vasselot, La Sculpture à Troyes et dans la Champagne méridionale au seizième siècle (Paris, 1900)