Title

Virgin and Child

Vahía, Alejo de (Active in Castile: 1487-1510)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

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Dimensions

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

When this sculpture went up for auction in Paris, at Hôtel Drouot, on the 9^th June 1943—in the midst of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II—it was identified as a 15^th-century Spanish work, and regarding its provenance, it was stated: 'Proviendrait de l’église de Valencia' (It would come from the church in Valencia). Nearly half a century later, when the sculpture was back in Paris, this time in its current—though, in principle, temporary—home (the Musée du Louvre), Pantxika Béguerie, based on stylistic analysis, attributed it to Alejo de Vahía, a late-Gothic sculptor of Nordic origin based in Becerril de Campos (Palencia), where he produced a large number of works intended mainly for towns in Tierra de Campos (most of which are located in the provinces of Palencia and Valladolid). It is, therefore, very likely that this sculpture does indeed come from a church, not in Valencia, but in Palencia; however, we have no further evidence to support this: for someone who is not a native Spanish speaker, Valencia and Palencia are practically homophones, so the confusion, which continues to arise time and again even today, is hardly surprising; but, since Béguerie identified the sculptor as Alejo de Vahía—a conclusion unanimously accepted by specialised critics—its provenance from the province of Palencia can be taken as certain (and this despite the fact that, until not long ago, a Valencian period preceding the Castilian one was posited for this sculptor). 

With his 1990 article, Béguerie not only proposed a plausible attribution for this sculpture but also restored its Spanish origin, since, until then, and despite the information from the 1943 sale, it had been considered a German work.

Following its sale the 9^th June 1943, this sculpture is believed to have passed through the hands of the Parisian antiquarian Jean-Louis Souffrice, who ran the Galerie Voltaire and supplied works to German antiquarians destined for museums or prominent figures in that country. One of these dealers, Walter Bornheim, who ran the Galerie für Alte Kunst in Munich, is said to have acquired it for a price between 80,000 and 100,000 francs, likely because he considered it a German work that he could sell in his country (the Louvre’s catalogue of European sculpture indicates that it was acquired for the museumn in Düsseldorf, but we have no further information on this).

Bornheim’s business, which is well known for having supplied numerous works of art to Hermann Göring, was completely destroyed by Allied bombing the 15^th May 1944, but by then, the art dealer had moved his works to safety at his private residence in Gräfelfing (a town on the outskirts of Munich).

After the war, the sculpture was transferred by the Allies to the Munich Central Collecting Point (5^th June 1946), where it was registered under number 32172, and from there, it was returned to France (23^rd August 1946), being deposited at the headquarters of the Commission de récupération artistique (CRA). Following the corresponding administrative process, it was retained by the second selection committee for recovered works the 17^th November 1949, and was finally assigned to the Musée du Louvre by virtue of a decree dated the 16^th May 1951, issued by the Office des biens et intérêts privés (OBIP), which had assumed the functions of the CRA upon its dissolution in 1950. The sculpture is currently on permanent display as part of the Musée du Louvre permanent collection.

According to the Rose-Valland database, created and maintained by the French Museums Service with the aim of identifying the owners of works of art that were looted during the Nazi era with a view to their restitution, the Hôtel Drouot sale of the 9^th June 1943 does not appear to be suspicious of having included looted works of art. Nevertheless, this sculpture belongs to the collection of artworks managed by the French authorities with a view to their eventual restitution, based on the criterion that works originating from France and recovered in Germany—even if they were not necessarily there as a result of looting (since, as appears to have occurred in this case, they may have been purchased in France by German citizens)— are considered looted on French national territory due to the occupation, which could imply a situation of coercion for the seller (a circumstance that does not appear to have occurred in this case, since Souffrice regularly collaborated with German antiques dealers and received commissions on the sales they subsequently made to German museums) and, in any event, a lack of control over their export by the legitimate authorities. Given this situation, it seems highly unlikely that a claim for restitution will ever be made; if the sale of the 9^th June 1943, was legitimate, we understand that such a claim could only be brought by the heirs of the collaborator Souffrice.

Description

The image shows the Virgin standing on a crescent moon, holding the Child in her left arm while, with her right arm, she bares her right breast, toward which the infant is reaching. The Child is missing his right hand, in which he would most likely have been holding a bird. Béguerie noted the close relationship between this image and those preserved in the churches of El Salvador in Monzón de Campos (Palencia) and Santiago in Medina de Rioseco (Valladolid), as well as in the Museu Frederic Marès in Barcelona. Of these, the one in Monzón de Campos is particularly noteworthy, as it is still in situ presiding over the painted altarpiece for which it was created, which provides a clue as to what the original context of the one in the Musée du Louvre might have been. Indeed, the back of the latter, although carved, is flat, indicating that it was placed in front of a backing that could very well have been the main compartment of an altarpiece.

Locations

• Unknown date

  region

  Possibly from the province of Palencia, Palencia (Spain)

• 1943

  auction house

  Hôtel Drouot, Paris (France)

• 1943

  dealer/antiquarian

  Jean-Louis Souffrice, Paris (France) *

• 1943 - 1944

  dealer/antiquarian

  Walter Bornheim, Galerie für Alte Kunst, Múnich (Germany) *

• 1944 - 1946

  dealer/antiquarian

  Walter Bornheim, Gräfelfing, Gräfelfing (Germany) *

• 1946

  warehouse

  Munich Central Collecting Point, Múnich (Germany)

• 1946 - 1951

  organization

  Commission de récuperation artistique (CRA), Paris (France)

• 1951 - present

  museum

  Louvre Museum, Paris (France)