Object of the Month – Flemish Madonna and Child

Flemish Madonna and Child Statue
painted wood statue
71” x 36” x 22”
17th century
73.3.1
Gift of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary – Summit, New Jersey

Flemish Madonna and Child Statue, 71 inches tall by 36 inches wide by 22 inches deep, 73.3.1, Gift of Our Lady of the Holy RosaryThe Madonna and Child was part of a pair of statues that represented St. Godelieve and were carved for the eponymously named abbey in Bruges, Belgium. The sculpture made its way to the United States sometime in the early 20th century. Documentation shows it was on display in 1933 at the Chicago Progress Exhibition, after which it came into the possession of an art dealer in New York who subsequently donated it to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, a Dominican Monastery, in 1963. In 1965, the statue was accepted into the Seton Hall University Collections. From 1994 until 2016, the statue was installed in the Art Center until being moved to its present location in the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center.