Diptych with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin and the Passion
Unknown · c. 1330-1350
Each leaf is divided into three registers by bands of carved roses, and the story reads from bottom to top and left to right, crossing between the leaves. Begin at the lower left with the Annunciation and Visitation; on the right come the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi. In the middle register the Presentation in the Temple is followed by Jesus among the doctors, his mother firmly leading away a boy still arguing; opposite, servants fill jars at the Wedding at Cana, then comes the Last Supper. At the top are the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension, where only Christ's feet and hem emerge from the clouds, then Pentecost, with a dove pouring two jets of flame on the disciples, and the Coronation of the Virgin.
Carved in Paris around thirteen thirty to thirteen fifty, the diptych belongs to a workshop production whose compositions recur from piece to piece. Traces of paint remain. It was in the collection of Charles Mège in Paris before nineteen hundred and nine and came to the Louvre through the bequest of Elisabeth Mège in nineteen fifty eight, accepted in nineteen sixty one.
Did You Know? In the Ascension scene the carver showed only the feet and hem of Christ disappearing into the clouds, a favourite Gothic shorthand.
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