The Virgin Mary

Artist Unknown

Dateca. 1500

Place of OriginGermany

Mediumwood, polychrome

DimensionsOverall: 25 x 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (63.5 x 18.4 x 16.5 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineBequest of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde

Object number1971.86

On View

On view

Collections

Sculpture
European Paintings & Sculpture

DescriptionThe theme of the Virgin Mary reading a book commonly relates to the narrative of the Annunciation, where the archangel Gabriel suddenly appears and interrupts the reading Virgin before announcing to her that she will bear the son of God. Here Mary, in her traditional blue drapery over a red undergarment, points to a specific text in her book; according to the popular "Meditations on the Life of Christ" (Franciscan, ca. 1300), the text she was reading when Gabriel arrived was the passage from Isaiah 7.14, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive." Usually the Virgin is sitting or bows when Gabriel arrives, but there is also a tradition for her to stand at the time of the angel’s arrival.

While the original context is unknown, almost certainly this fully polychromed, wooden sculpture was paired with one of Gabriel. The pair could well have been part of a schnitzaltar, a type of large, multi-figured, wooden altarpiece especially popular in Renaissance Germany. In fact, this Mary figure is not fully carved in the round: the back of the sculpture clearly was not meant to be seen as it is quite flat, with the drapery only slightly articulated. Thus it would have stood against a flat surface—possibly a large altarpiece’s panel backing—to be viewed frontally.

Text by Penny Howell Jolly, Professor Emerita of Art History, Skidmore College, February 2026Exhibition History"Medieval Art in Upstate New York," Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, April-May 1974.

"Objects of Devotion," Hoopes Galllery, The Hyde Collection, Nov. 30, 2003- Feb. 29, 2004.