German school; circa 1500.

German School; circa 1500.
"Allegory of motherhood".
Carved boxwood.
Measurements: 18 x 5 x 4 cm,
The elongation of the anatomy and the delicacy of the carving reveal a great similarity with the aesthetics of the German school. In fact, the features of the young protagonist are similar to those of the sculptures that fill the porticoes of the great German cathedrals, or even similar to the stone carvings of the Strasbourg cathedral, which, despite its French nationality, has a great influence of German statuary. With regard to the subject matter, it is interesting that the work is far removed from the usual religious content, at least in an explicit way, as it probably formed part of a much larger ensemble of religious themes, its content being symbolic or allegorical. The protagonist, nude before the viewer, holds a small child in her arms, whose legs are those of a goat, thus representing a faun. In this way the quality of the author can be appreciated both in his training, which stems from classical knowledge, and in the finesse of his wood carving.
With the arrival of the Renaissance, a substantial aesthetic change took place throughout Europe, both in architecture and in painting and sculpture. The symbolic and timeless hieratism of the Romanesque gave way to a desire for reality and narrative meaning that had its roots in classical sculpture and forced artists to take nature as their model. Gothic sculptors therefore sought to represent the visible world as it is. In this way, the gestures and attitudes of the figures are humanised, and they acquire individuality. Aesthetic conventions - such as the large eyes standing out from the rest of the face, which symbolised the character's soul - were left behind and a naturalistic representation of faces, anatomy, clothing, etc. was sought. Following this new aesthetic line, the figures abandoned their vertical, symmetrical and hieratic postures to adopt increasingly expressive and gestural ones, with greater realism in their movement. At the same time, an attempt was made to represent the emotions of the figures through eloquent gestures of the face and hands. The Gothic style underwent an evolution from classicism, where the serene beauty of idealised naturalism was sought, to a certain mannerism of forms that can be seen in the stylisation and elongation of the figures.