Details

LOT 0522

Medieval Marble Head of an Angel

LATE 14TH CENTURY AD

10" (4.9 kg total, 25.5cm).

A frontal part of a Gothic marble angel, representing an Archangel, possibly Gabriel, as a young boy; the delicately carved round face with beautiful features and small dimples to cheeks, short wavy hair falling around the crown of the head with longer curls above ears; some pigment remaining on the ears and blue pigment on the hair; reputedly from Catalonia; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Provenance

Ex central London gallery; formerly with Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2012, lot 296; accompanied by an archaeological report by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10221-166460.

Literature

See Sauerlander, W., Gothic sculpture in France, 1140-1270, New York, 1972; Joubert, F., La sculpture gothique en France. XIIe-XIIIe siècles, Paris, 2008; Kasarska, L., La sculpture de la façade occidentale de la cathédrale de Laon. Eschatologie et humanisme, Paris, 2008.

Footnotes

Religious statuary was at its peak during the 13th and 14th centuries. The facades and interiors of cathedrals and abbeys were richly adorned with polychrome statues, paying homage to the life of Jesus, but also of his apostles, saints, bishops and abbots of the time, as well as to the heavenly court represented by the angels.

The smiling faces like the one of this angel, are influenced by a group of apostles from the Holy Chapel completed around 1248 AD and by the Saint Etienne portal of Notre-Dame de Paris. We can find similar examples of the smiling angel from Reims around 1260 AD, and a quote from Saint John of the Holy Chapel: 'slenderness of the swaying body, small round head at the curly hair, assertive smile'. '

CONDITION