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Madonna of the Choir

Gothic

Anonymous

Last third of the 14th century

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Sitting on a stool with a pillow, Mary wears a round-necked tunic, a cloak that falls off her shoulders, and a veil on her head, fixed with a crown that is now partially lost. With her left hand she holds a fusiform branch and on her right knee sits the Child, whose hands are missing. Her face, delicately sculpted, conveys an impression of serenity. Josep Gudiol identified this image as the one that had adorned the altar of Saint Mary of the Choir, founded in 1205 near the main altar of the Romanesque cathedral and which, around 1400, when the transept was renovated, was moved to the foot of the nave, near the door that descended to the cloister, where a Marian image is documented as early as 1335. In turn, Josep Bracons placed the creation of the sculpture at a time somewhat prior to Pere Oller's arrival in Vic, since in its overall conception the weight of the native tradition is more decisive than foreign influences. Oller, in any case, incorporated the old Marian devotion to the new main altarpiece of the cathedral, sculpted between 1420 and 1427, by placing, above the titular image of Saint Peter, a sculpture of Mary effectively similar to the one in question. In view of all these data, it is difficult to say if this image was created at the time of moving the Choir altar to the foot of the nave, in 1398, or if it was already the alabaster Marian statue that according to an inventory of 1368 was located near the main altar. It is, in any case, a testimony of the importance of the cult of the Virgin in the cathedral of Vic around 1400 and of the quality of the sculpture workshops that were working in the diocesan capital at that time.

Marc Sureda Jubany

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Location

Room8 ,Floor0

4 Romanesque Art

5-6-7-8 Gothic Art

Detalls de l’obra

PLACE OF EXECUTION

Catalonia (Osona?)

PERIOD

Last third of the 14th century

Material

Sculpted alabaster with remains of polychromy

Dimensions

73 x 30.5 x 23 cm

Origin

From Vic Cathedral

WORK NUMBER

MEV 1310