The Beautiful Virgin Mary from Krużlowa is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

made from linden-tree timber, found 1889 in a Catholic church in

Krużlowa Wyżna Krużlowa Wyżna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Grybów, within Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately west of Grybów, east of Nowy Sącz, and south-east of the regional ca ...

(

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). Its capital and largest city is Kraków. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a h ...

) by

Władysław Łuszczkiewicz Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (3 September 1828 – 23 May 1900) was a Polish historian and painter of the late Romanticism in Poland, Romantic era from Kraków, active in the period of the foreign partitions of Poland. He was a professor at the Jan ...

and

Stanisław Wyspiański Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artisti ...

. Since 1899, the sculpture has been included in the

National Museum, Kraków National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

collections.Culture.pl
/ref> The sculpture belongs to the so-called soft style of

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art that began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by the ...

art, and it is an example of a beautiful Madonna.

History and description

This sculpture was made at the beginning of the 15th century by an unknown artist. The sculpture is high and can be viewed from three sides; the rear side is deeply hollowed to avoid cracking of the drying timber. This piece shows the Virgin Mary with a nude

Baby Jesus The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of Jesus' life, described in the canonical Gospe ...

holding an apple. The Virgin stands with an S-curve, and her clothes are richly pleated. This sculpture was likely originally in a

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

church, but in the 17th century it was replaced by newer

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

sculptures and carried to the village church of Krużlowa. The first written evidence dates to 1607, the next from 1766. The sculpture was first placed on the altar of the church, but later was moved to the entrance hall, and finally, because of pest risks, was moved to the church's attic and forgotten. The sculpture was found by the two artists in a very bad condition, coated with a three layers of oil paint, partially exposing the wooden base. The sculpture was bought by the

and exhibited in the

Sukiennice Museum The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice (), is a division of the National Museum, Kraków, Poland. The gallery is housed on the upper floor of the Renaissance '' Sukiennice'' Cloth Hall in the center of the Main Market Square in Old ...

Kraków Cloth Hall The Kraków Cloth Hall (, ), in Lesser Poland, dates to the Renaissance in Poland, Renaissance and is one of the city's most recognizable monuments. It is the central feature of the Main Market Square, Kraków, main market square in the Kraków ...

starting in 1924 in the City Hall tower. In 1940 the sculpture was requisitioned by the German occupation forces and was posed in the office of the Nazi governor

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, lawyer and convicted war criminal who served as head of the General Government in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member ...

at Wawel Royal Castle. Since October 2007, the sculpture has been part of the art collections of the Erasmus Ciołek Bishop's Palace, a part of the Kraków National Museum.

Gallery

Madonna z Krużlowej1.jpg Madonna z Krużlowej2.jpg Madonna z Krużlowej4.jpg

References

External links

Madonna of Krużlowa (English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruzlowa Polish sculpture Wooden sculptures in Poland Sculptures of saints Statues of the Madonna and Child 15th-century sculptures Gothic sculptures

History and description

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links