18th Century, Nursing Virgin

18th century
Nursing virgin
Polychrome stucco, alt. cm 76

The present Madonna is trying to breastfeed the Child, thus qualifying as Virgo lactans. The gentle inclination of the face of the Virgin, tenderly turned to the vision of Son, generates an optical convexity that allows you to appreciate the entire sculpture as if it were enclosed in an oval. The wise use of polychromy, alternating mainly in warm and dark colours, contributes to characterise this sculpture with a deep expressiveness. 
The use of stucco as a sculptural element had an ancient origin, registering the first examples of this practice in the palaces of Jericho Umayyad; recovered in the Hellenistic context, In Rome, the stucco was used mainly as a basis for painted reliefs, which can be seen in the Casa della Farnesina and the Domus Aurea. Between the early Middle Ages and the first sixteenth century there was a stalemate, soon filled by the widespread production of statues in stucco within the papalina Rome. 
The dough was generally made by agglomerating finely chopped gypsum and marble, mixed with lime and water. Then a layer of casein or fish glue was applied to the surface for the pictorial pigment. The stucco decoration in the plastic with all relief, in the high relief or in the squares with decorative partitions thus made up the following centuries, depopulating in the XVIII century.

The object is in good condition