Face of the blue-eyed, golden-haired Christ Child in rare and precious 1100s wooden polychrome Virgin Enthroned statue, now displayed in the refectory of the early 1500s Monastère royal de Brou at Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The statue, originally in a castle chapel, has sustained some damage over the centuries, but most of the original paint and gilding is still bright.
Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France: face of the blue-eyed, golden-haired Christ Child depicted sitting on his mother’s lap by the 12th century sculptor who carved the wooden polychrome statue of the Virgin Enthroned now displayed in the refectory of the early 16th century Monastère royal de Brou. The rare and precious statue, originally in a castle chapel near Bourg-en-Bresse, has sustained significant paint loss and other damage over the centuries. Saint Mary’s hands are now missing, as is the left hand of the Christ Child. However, this close detail view of the boy’s face shows that most of the original paint and gilding is still bright. The royal monastery was founded in 1506 by Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (1480-1530), daughter of 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 from 1506 to 1532. The richly ornamented mausoleums carved by 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 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 home to 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
Keywords: 1100s, 12th, 1506, ain, art, augustinian, auvergne-rhône-alpes, blue, blue-eyed, bourg-en-bresse, brou, carved, catholic, century, cheeks, child, christ, christian, christianity, close, curly, , de, detail, enthroned, eyes, face, faces, facial, founded, france, french, gilded, golden, golden-haired, gothic, hair, head, heads, infant, jesus, kerr, lips, loss, mary, medieval, monastery, monastè, original, paint, painted, pink, polychrome, red, religious, roman, royal, sculpted, sculpture, seated, st, staring, statue, statues, terence, virgin, woodcarving, wooden
