Virgin and Child

Culture: South Netherlandish
Date: early 16th century
Material: Gilded and painted wood with walnut base
made in: Belgium, Europe
Classification: Sculpture, wood
Collection: European Art to 1800
Current Location: On View, Gallery 222
Dimensions: with base: 16 3/4 x 4 1/2 x 3 in. (42.5 x 11.4 x 7.6 cm)
statue height: 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
base height: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm)
with center post for use with base: 15 in. (38.1 cm)
widest point of sculpture: 5 in. (12.7 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Audrey Faust Wallace and Leicester Busch Faust as a memorial to Anna Busch Faust and Edward A. Faust
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 58:1937

NOTES

Renaissance Flanders, roughly equivalent to present-day Belgium, abounded in workshops where sculptures were embellished with beautifully applied gilding and attractive painted decoration. Through the years, worshippers have rubbed away the paint on the head of the Christ Child in this sculpture. The sheen visible on the bare wood was created by the oily residue left from fingers as they rubbed the surface. Originally, the Child’s head would have looked quite different. The artist would have given his hair more detail by first applying a chalk and glue layer and then carving it into crisp, distinct strands before applying the final paint. The virgin originally wore a metal crown around her head.

Provenance

by 1931 - 1937
Edward A. Faust (1869-1936) and Anna Busch Faust (1875-1936), St. Louis, MO; Leicester Faust (1897-1979) and Audrey Faust Wallace (1902-1991), St. Louis, MO, by inheritance [1]

1937 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Leicester Busch Faust and Audrey Faust Wallace [2]

Notes:
[1] The sculpture was in the Faust's collection by 1931 as indicated by a Museum list featuring works the Fausts agreed to lend to the Museum for exhibition beginning in December of that same year [typewritten list titled, "Old Masters and Decorative Arts from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Faust on Indefinite Loan," SLAM document files, SLAM document files]. On this list the object is described as a "'Madonna and Child,' by a Flemish Master, ca.1520" [typewritten list of works, SLAM document files]. It was inherited by Mr. and Mrs. Faust's children, Leicester and Audrey.

[2] Leicester Faust and Audrey Faust Wallace gave the sculpture to the Museum in memory of their parents in 1937. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, October 7, 1937.

Back to search

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.