GIOVANNI DI BALDUCCIO
(active 1315-1349)

Virgin and Child

1332-34
Marble, height 81 cm
Institute of Arts, Detroit

This image of the standing Virgin and Child reveals a profound change in the image of the Virgin that occurred by the early fourteenth century. Rather than confronting the viewer frontally in the Romanesque manner, here the mother and her child engage in an intimate, human relationship. The child energetically grasps the Virgin's mantle in his right hand as he leans back to peer into her face.