Virgin And Child - Former Bresset Collection, Oak, Utrecht, Late 15th Century

This oak sculpture from the very end of the 15th century represents the Virgin and Child showing the Holy Scriptures, enclosed in a book held in Mary's right hand and of which Jesus is turning the pages. Although marked by the influence of Flemish productions from Antwerp, our work appears closer to the images made in Utrecht, in the northern Netherlands, at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. Major artistic center in North-West Europe at this time, the images produced there tended towards greater realism. This realism shows here in the features of the face of our Virgin, far from the stereotyped faces of contemporary serial productions from Bruges or Mechelen. The attention paid to the book, the high embroidered collar of Marie's sober blouse, her physiognomy as well as her skilful draping, with heavy interlocking folds that roll up where they meet the ground, find in particular some equivalents within the prestigious corpus attributed to the famous Utrecht sculptor Adriaen van Wesel and his circle.

Provenance: Former private collection, Mandelieu (Southern-France) ; Edouard Bresset collection, 1990 (sold with a copy of the expert's report signed by Edouard Bresset, dated February 19, 1990)