Virgin and Child

Attributed to Jean de Liège, sculptor to the King of France, Charles V, this very fine image is remarkable not only for the nobility of the material from which it is made, marble, but also for the superb handling of the folds of the mantle. Some traces of gold still remain on the border and originally the statue was encrusted with precious stones that have now disappeared along with the crowns of the Virgin and Child.
This work was probably originally from the Cistercian Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, in Paris. It ornamented the façade of a baker’s shop, near the abbey, so became known as the Virgin of the Baker.
The rather elongated proportions of the Virgin leaning at the hip and of the Child, showing an affectionate relationship with the mother, frequently occur in works produced in the second half of the fourteenth century and were part of a phase of expansion of the Marian cult.