AUSTRIAN, SALZBURG, CIRCA 1440 | VIRGIN AND CHILD

Collection of Georg Hartmann, Frankfurt, circa 1920s;

Thence by descent 

Hurbert Wilm, Alte Kunst, lebendig: Bildwerke einer Privatsammlung, Stuttgart, 1942, pp. 12-29, figs. 17 and 108

The Weichen Stil also known as the “soft style” or “beautiful style”, which was prevalent in the work of Southern Bavarian and Austrian sculptors in from the late 14^th century, was characterized by elegant and sophisticated compositions formulated by the drapery. In the present majestic sculpture, the graphic complexity of the deep and numerous folds of the Madonna’s garment are beautifully juxtaposed with the soft, rounded faces of the figures. Previously associated with the work of the Master of Eriskirch (from Southern Germany) and a pair of figures of St. Oswald and St. Catherine in the Bayerischesnational Museum (Wilm, op. cit.), the distinctive cascades of drapery folds on each side of the figure terminating in a near semi-circular swathe between her feet, as well as the affable expressions on the figures are more analogous to a figure also from Salzburg in the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1). The Met sculpture, probably depicting Saint Peter, is of similar dimensions and may well have come from the same workshop and possibly the same devotional scheme. 

RELATED LITERATURE

Halm-Lill, Die Bildwerke des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums, Munich, 1924, nos. 218, 21, illus. 113 and 114;

William D. Wixom, 'Medieval Sculpture at The Cloisters', in  The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 46, no. 3 (Winter 1988-1989). p. 25, pl. 128, fig. 723.