Bruges Madonna
Michelangelo Buonarroti, August Gerber (cast maker)
- Artist
-
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Caprese, 1475 – Róma, 1564
August Gerber
(cast maker)
Köln
- Dated
- 1501–1505 (original), 1906 (cast)
- Classification
- sculpture, plaster cast
- Medium
- plaster cast
- Dimensions
- 130 × 54 × 62 cm
- Inv.no.
- Rg.239
- Department
- Sculpture
- Current Location of the Original Artwork
- Belgium, Bruges, Church of Our Lady
The statue of the Virgin and Child known as the Bruges Madonna was the only one sculptural work by Michelangelo, which left Italy during the artist’s lifetime. The carved marble sculpture was purchased by Jean and Alexandre Mouscron, merchants of Bruges for the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Bruges. Michelangelo conceived the composition taking in account carefully the intended position of the sculpture in the church. The Museum commissioned the plaster cast of the Bruges Madonna in 1906 from Cologne from August Gerber, and the copy was exhibited in the Michelangelo Room in 1909. This plaster cast is installed in Kecskemét at the House of Science and Technology since 1976, together with other fourteen plaster casts after Michelangelo’s statues.