Virgin and Child
Umbria, Orvieto (possibly), c.1350–1450
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
This statuette of the nursing Virgin is a rare survival of the kind of devotional image that would have graced many a humble home. The Virgin is stately and imposing, yet offers a reassuringly human image of motherhood; she and the Christ Child both wear everyday green-striped skirts, and have no haloes to mark them out as holy.
Cambridge, The Fitzwilliam Museum, EC.2-1938
Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson, 1938
