The Virgin With the Grapes

Antique Brooch With Shell Cameo After Pierre Mignard, Italy & Great Britain Around 1870

€ 790.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Antique Brooch With Shell Cameo After Pierre Mignard, Italy & Great Britain Around 1870

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

In room 916 of the Louvre in Paris is a painting from around 1640, painted by Pierre Mignard, also known as Mignard le Romain. Mignard was an important figure in the cultural life of his time; he was especially known for his Madonnas, which were nicknamed the "Mignardises." The most famous of those Madonnas is the one that can be admired in the Louvre. It shows the Blessed Virgin with the Child half hidden under her veil. The two together hold a bunch of grapes in their hands. It is after this attribute that the painting got its name: The virgin with the grapes (see fig.). In Christian iconography, Mary is considered the vine on which Jesus grew as the grape. The wine pressed from the grape, in turn, stands for the blood and thus the sacrifice of Jesus, as it is known from the Eucharist. Related to this is another motif of iconography, namely that of Christ in the winepress, also called mystical winepress: Here Christ himself presses the grapes and thus obtains the wine. Mignard's painting thus cleverly links different levels and symbolically anticipates the atonement of Christ. It is precisely this painting that was the inspiration for the cameo set here as a brooch. Cameo cutters usually worked from models: these could be photographs, drawings, but mostly graphics after famous works of art. Most cameo cutters were based in the Bay of Naples, where travellers often bought them as souvenirs and had them set in their home country. Thus, the setting used here also bears British hallmarks of fineness - it is restrained in design and decorates the narrow frame only with a fine gold cord, so that the motif is in the foreground.

Size & Details

The Virgin With the Grapes

€ 790.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

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The Virgin With the Grapes

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