Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon
Unknown Artist
ca. 1480
Medium
Limewood with paint
Dimensions
Overall: 75 1/2 x 27 1/4 x 17in. (191.8 x 69.2 x 43.2cm) Overall: 102lb. (46266.9g)
Classification
Sculpture-Wood
Culture
German
Department
The Cloisters
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Cloisters Collection, 1984
Accession Number
1984.198
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in The Cloisters' collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art *Virgin and Child on a Moon* (ca. 1480) is a striking German limewood sculpture standing over six feet tall and weighing more than 100 pounds. This unknown artist's masterful carving depicts the Virgin Mary gracefully cradling the Christ Child atop a radiant crescent moon, a beloved late medieval iconographic motif drawn from the Book of Revelation's "woman clothed with the sun." moon symbolizes Mary's immaculate purity and triumph over evil, evoking devotion and awe in worshippers. Crafted from limewood—a soft, fine-grain...