MADONESS WITH A GRAB PICARDY, c. 1500 polychromed... Lot 28

MADONESS WITH A GRAB PICARDY, c. 1500 polychromed and gilded wood H. 115 cm visible missing parts This Madonna with a grape, in the Gothic tradition, is wearing a bonnet characteristic of the penetration of the Italian Renaissance forms north of the Alps. The oval shape of her face, with a long straight nose that does not protrude much above a small, delicately drawn mouth, and her eyes with heavy lids that give her a slightly absent look, are evidence of this. The richness of the gold embroidered fabrics evokes the cloth industry of Arras, which was flourishing around 1500, as can also be seen in the elegant Sainte Hélene in the Boucher de Perthes museum (fig. 1). The Picardy sculptors were able to render, with a rare sense of realistic detail, the weight of the cloths that followed the contours of the body as they fell to the ground. The two statues, sculpted in painted and gilded wood, are also of comparable and rather exceptional dimensions, measuring about 1.15 m high. Ours, intended to be leaning against the ground, is distinguished by a more flexible treatment of the folds, which is in keeping with its sturdy stature. A bunch of grapes is often seen in France, and perhaps even more often in Belgium, as an attribute, either to the Virgin or to the Child Mary is carrying in her arms. What is the meaning of this attribute? Such is the problem posed and solved by M. Destrée, who encountered for the first time in the 14th century similar representations. Should we find in it the habit, undoubtedly very ancient and preserved to our days, that the wine growers have of hanging, on the day of the Assumption, a bunch of grapes already ripe in the hand of a Madonna carried in procession? Is it the symbol of the joy that Mary feels in the presence of her divine Son? M. Destrée goes further in the search for symbolism. In fact, from the 16th century onwards, the group of the Virgin with a bunch of grapes becomes more complicated. We see Saint Anne sometimes holding a chalice in which the Child Jesus presses the juice of the grape. In some paintings the scene is accompanied by two women whose role is specified. Thus, on a panel of the Dolfus collection, these women are named: one, Mercy, receives the juice of the vine, the other, Justice, holds a balance and puts her sword back in its sheath. Such a composition is common in Belgium. The conclusion of M. Destrée is therefore easily guessed. Whatever the origin of the iconographic theme, under the influence of theologians it received, especially in the Brabant region, a mystical meaning: the Eucharist disarming Justice to welcome Mercy.