Title

The Virgin and Child

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This impressive sculpture— nearly two meterstall—has been housed in the Louvre since the early 20th century, having been acquired in 1908 from the Valladolid-based sculptor and antiquarian Mariano Chicote. According to the French institution’s records, the work originated in Mayorga (Valladolid). This municipality is located in the far northwest of the province of Valladolid, on the right bank of the Cea River and very close to the province of León, in the heart of the Tierra de Campos region. 

Probably carved in the early 15th century, the monumentality of the work suggests—assumingthe provenance indicated at the time of its sale tothe Louvre— that it occupied a prominent place in one of the town’s churches, perhaps as the principal image, or perhaps it came from one of the monasteries that ceased to exist during the 19th century, as certain pieces of that origin must have been preserved in the town.

Mayorga once had numerous churches, of which only the following remain, albeit in varying states of preservation: Santa María del Mercado or del Azogue (in the square where it stands, there was also a church dedicated to Santa María del Temple), San Salvador (the current parish church), Santa María de Arbás, Santo Toribio, San Juan de Santibáñez (which was converted into a silo and, more recently, transformed into the Bread Museum), and the church of the convent of the Dominican nuns of San Pedro Mártir. However, other churches are also documented in the municipality of which nothing remains: San Julián, San Andrés, San Martín, Santa María de Terrados, Santa Cruz, the Church of La Magdalena, San Nicolás de Arbás, as well as the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Calatrava, where the town’s patron saint was enshrined—a more modern, dressable image that continues to be carried in processions on the occasion of her feast day. In addition, the town had several hospitals, such as those of La Encarnación, Bermúdez, Arbás, and San Antonio, of which nothing remains (Urrea and Brasas, pp. 62–63).

Among the churches dedicated to Saint Mary were Santa María de Arbás and Santa María del Mercado, both of which likely housed a principal image dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Both were 15th-century buildings; the former ceased to be used for worship long ago, while the second remained active until the 1960s, at which point it passed into private hands and has since served various purposes. We know that the church records of Santa María de Arbás list a payment in 1588 to “Gaspar Cid, painter, for part of the cost of gilding the image of Our Lady of the aforementioned Church,” which took place immediately after the payment for and installation of the church’s altarpiece (Urrea and Brasas, p. 68).

As for the monastery of the Dominican nuns of San Pedro Mártir, it was a center of great artistic wealth; Queen Catherine of Lancaster obtained a papal bull establishing it in 1394. (P. López de Ayala, Chronicle of Henry III of Castile (1390–1391); Aniz Iriarte and Callejo de Paz, p. 57). Furthermore, it appears that this monastery housed works from other male religious monasteries following the process of ecclesiastical confiscation during the 19th century: “the Majorcan tradition that the Dominican nuns of San Pedro Mártir received or retained some works—such as sculptures—from their male religious brothers is likely true” (Aniz Iriarte and Callejo de Paz, p. 278). However, between 1880 and 1900, the community appears to have faced financial difficulties, as they received various donations to address the deplorable condition of the convent building; among other things, “the roof of the building was in danger of collapsing and the cloister wall had collapsed” (Aniz Iriarte and Callejo de Paz, pp. 285–286). Typically, in such circumstances, convents sought to raise funds to meet their needs, often by selling certain works of art. 

However, the only information we have so far is that in 1908 this carving was in the possession of the sculptor who created the famous sculpture of Fame in Valladolid’s Campo Grande, and that it was he who sold it to the French institution. In the catalog of sculptures at the Louvre compiled by Vitry and published in 1922, it appeared under no. 559, classified as a work of the Spanish school:“Provenant de Majorga, province de Léon. Acquired in 1908”(Vitry, 1922). Mayorga belongs to the province of Valladolid, although at the time this sculpture was created, it was part of the Diocese of León. 

Description

The Virgin holds the Child in her left arm—the mother’s right arm is missing. The composition is typical of the images that appeared in the transoms of cathedral doors, representing an evolution of that style; see the example of this model in the Diocese of León: Santa María la Blanca, in the Cathedral of León (Franco Mata, 1988). Although this sculptural type became widespread in the 14th century, very few examples have survived in the province of Valladolid (Ara Gil, 1977, pp. 146–147), and, moreover, these differ significantly from the carving in question. The work is carved from walnut wood and bears some traces of polychromy.

Locations

• Unknown date

  municipality

  Mayorga, Mayorga (Spain)

• 1908

  dealer/antiquarian

  Mariano Chicote Recio, Valladolid (Spain) *

• 1908 - present

  museum

  Louvre Museum, Paris (France)