The University of Kansas

Tilman Riemenschneider

c. 1460-1531
Virgin and Child, c. 1499
Lindenwood
123 x 36.8 x 21 cm

Museum purchase: Gift in memory of Professor Harry C. Thurnau through the estate of Myrtle Elliot Thurnau, 52.1

One of the treasures in the Medieval Gallery is the standing Madonna and Child by German artist Tilman Riemenschneider, carved at the end of the 15th century (this period in Germany is called medieval by some and Renaissance by others). Riemenschneider carved the two figures central to Catholicism and invested them with qualities of affection one might expect in any human mother and child. Though she is taller and has a more precariously balanced stance and a smoother face than a real person, the Madonna holds Christ as tenderly as any living mother. Her expression and gesture suggest that the artist was making a connection between the holy mother of God and an earthly mother and child.