Malopolska workshop, 15th century, Madonna

Polychrome wood; height 80 cm; width 29 cm;
Workshop of Lesser Poland (Cracow?), 1st half of the 15th century (ca. 1425-50);
Preservation condition: both hands of Madonna missing, chipping of painting;

"The sculpture is of high quality: an oval, regular face with a strongly arched forehead, widely spaced eyes and small, short mouth, is characterized by delicate features; the figure is proportional, impressively bent into the shape of a barely formed letter "S"; the impression of a certain girlishness, subtlety, even fragility, is completed by narrow shoulders and small hands drawn under the folds of the coat. The draperies themselves are also delicately composed and modeled, especially the exceptionally beautiful mantle, with a light, filigree drawing, arranged in bowl and spoon folds, centered around the right forearm. The narrow strings of the veil, falling in cascading folds, give an impression of exceptional subtlety, providing a beautiful frame for the figure's cleavage. The figure in question shows clear links with the sculpture of Lesser Poland in the 1st half of the 15th century, especially the figures of the so-called beautiful Madonnas with the Child frequent especially in the territory of the Land of Cracow in the Jagiellonian period (such as the Madonna of Krużlowa). This group derives from the so-called International Style governing European plastic art from the middle of the 14th to the beginning of the 15th century, and in the realities of Central Europe prevailing between about 1370 and 1420. [...] The main formal principals of the International Style sculptures are the strong aestheticization of the figures, the emphasis placed on allure, subtlety of expression, a certain filigree, in female figures girlishness, the charm of youth and fragility, and a certain courtliness." [excerpt from an expert opinion by Dr. Jakub Sito, issued for the sculpture on 28.10.2023].