The blue-eyed, golden haired Christ Child wears red, green and gold robes as he sits on his mother’s lap in this detail of an 1100s wooden polychrome Virgin Enthroned statue. In the refectory of the Monastère royal de Brou, founded in the early 1500s at Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, to house royal tombs of the House of Savoy. The artwork has sustained significant damage, with the Virgin now missing both of her hands and the left arm of the Infant Jesus ending in a stump, but the original paint is still bright after more than eight centuries.
Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France: the blue-eyed, golden haired Christ Child, wearing red, green and gold robes, sits on his mother’s lap in this detail of a 12th century wooden polychrome statue of the Virgin Enthroned, on display with other religious art in the refectory of the Monastère royal de Brou, founded in the early 1500s to house royal tombs of the House of Savoy. The artwork was originally in a castle or chateau near Bourg-en-Bresse. It has sustained significant damage, with the Virgin now missing both of her hands and the left arm of the Infant Jesus ending in a stump. But amid further evidence of historic wear and tear, the original paint is still bright after more than eight centuries. The royal monastery was founded in 1506 by Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (1480-1530), daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. She planned the Augustinian religious complex at Brou as a memorial and dynastic burial-place for her second husband, Philibert II, Duke of Savoy (1480-1504), his mother, Margaret of Bourbon, and herself. The trio are buried in the abbey church, the Église Saint-Nicolas-de-Tolentin de Brou, a masterpiece of ornate Flamboyant Gothic architecture built between 1506 and 1532. The richly ornamented mausoleums carved by the German-born Late Gothic and Renaissance sculptor Conrad Meit (1480-1551) have avoided the destruction suffered by royal tombs elsewhere in France. In the early 15th century, Bourg-en-Bresse was the capital of the dukes of Savoy and of the ancient province of Bresse. It was conquered by France in 1535, but was restored to Savoy in 1559. A strong citadel built by a later duke withstood a six-month French siege, but the town was finally ceded to France in 1601. The monastery now belongs to the town of Bourg-en-Bresse and is the home of the municipal art collection.
Size: 2592px × 3872px
Location: Monastère royal de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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