In this brief article we will explore the most famous statues of the Virgin Mary. To get right to it, likely the most renown example of a statue featuring Jesus Christ's mother, the Virgin Mary, would be Michelangelo's Pieta sculpture that is found within the great St. Peter's Basilica. Created in 1499, this amazing marble masterpiece measures sixty eight and a half by seventy six and an eighth inches in size. Aside from being the most famous sculpture of Mary, it's likely to be one of the most renown sculptures ever produced by the great Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo. The work itself features Mary seated upright, with the crucified Jesus lying dead across her lap. Mary in this representation is also very youthful looking, which surprised some of the statue's first onlookers, as she would have been a middle aged woman at the time of the Crucifixion. Michelangelo said that her youthful looks were attributed her spiritual purity.
The second most renown sculpture of the Virgin Mary, would be the Madonna of Bruges. This second sculpture of Saint Mary was also created by Michelangelo, two years after he created the Pieta sculpture. In this marble piece, the Virgin Mary is again seated upright, while holding the infant baby Jesus in her lap. This style of depiction of Mary was quite common during the Renaissance, however there are several unique features about it. For example Mother Mary's facial expression is that of sorrow, as if she already knows the ultimate fate of her son Jesus. Other similar depictions of Mary by different artists usually show her with a smile on her face. Another somewhat unorthodox feature of the sculpture is that the baby Jesus is only being loosely held my his Holy mother, and he is standing upright, looking as if he is about to take his first steps away from her. It is thought that this symbolizes Jesus' first step into the world he would die for.
Another world famous sculpture of Mary is entitled Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle, which is hosted in Louvre Paris. This work of art was created from 1260 to 1270, and is carved out of ivory. It stands roughly sixteen inches tall, and about seven inches wide. What's unique about this piece is that despite being famous, it was created by an anonymous artist. With regard to the statue itself, it features Saint Mary standing upright, while holding Jesus as a young boy. The Louvre Museum itself describes the sculpture as the most beautiful example of a ronde-bosse ivory carving that the world has ever known, and the most famous ivory carving to ever come out of France. During the 13th century when the piece was made, France had at the time quite a number of open trade routes that were used to obtain large quantities of ivory. At this time in France there were many ivory carving workshops spread throughout the country and it's capital.
The last famous sculpture of Mother Mary that I would like to discuss, is the renown Virgin of Montserrat, also known as La Moreneta. This great sculpture is hosted at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery located within the Montserrat mountain in Catalonia. This sculpture is often referred to as one of the famous black Madonnas of Europe, which is why it is called la Moreneta, the Catalan word meaning the little dark skinned one. As far as the date of creation is concerned, it is thought to have be made sometime during the late twelfth century. It is made entirely from wood, and is considered to be a Romanesque style wood sculpture. With regard to the origin, some art historians believe that it was carved within Jerusalem. For centuries it was looked after and cared for by Benedictine monks of the early Jerusalem Church. That concludes this brief article, we hope that you were able to learn something new about famous Mother Mary sculptures.
