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Lot Essay
The Henry Moore Foundation has confirmed that this cast is recorded in their database as number LH 223.
In 1943 the Reverend Walter Hussey commissioned Henry Moore to sculpt a monumental stone Madonna and Child for the Church of St. Matthew's, Northampton. The present work is one of twelve maquettes that Moore made while he was working out ideas for the final version. Having already executed several sculptures depicting maternity, the theme was not a new one for Moore. However, he called the Northampton Madonna, "one of the most difficult and heart-searching sculptures that I have ever tried to do" (quoted in A.G. Wilkinson, The Drawings of Henry Moore, New York, 1984, p. 290). In describing the qualities he sought, Moore said, "[the] Madonna and Child should have an austerity and a nobility, and some touch of grandeur (even hieratic aloofness) which is missing in the everyday mother and child idea" (quoted in D. Mitchinson, ed., op. cit., p. 90).
The present work is unusually naturalistic for Moore and steeped in references to religious art of the Renaissance. This suggests Moore was trying to produce a sculpture that people would find both modern and familiar. The present work and the other bronze maquettes are later casts of the original terracotta models he made for the project.
Harry M. Goldblatt was a long-time admirer and collector of the works of Henry Moore. A world traveler, in 1972 he had the opportunity to visit with the artist in Europe. Since Harry's death in 1983, his collection of Moore's paintings and sculptures has remained intact and have been cherished by his family.
In 1943 the Reverend Walter Hussey commissioned Henry Moore to sculpt a monumental stone Madonna and Child for the Church of St. Matthew's, Northampton. The present work is one of twelve maquettes that Moore made while he was working out ideas for the final version. Having already executed several sculptures depicting maternity, the theme was not a new one for Moore. However, he called the Northampton Madonna, "one of the most difficult and heart-searching sculptures that I have ever tried to do" (quoted in A.G. Wilkinson, The Drawings of Henry Moore, New York, 1984, p. 290). In describing the qualities he sought, Moore said, "[the] Madonna and Child should have an austerity and a nobility, and some touch of grandeur (even hieratic aloofness) which is missing in the everyday mother and child idea" (quoted in D. Mitchinson, ed., op. cit., p. 90).
The present work is unusually naturalistic for Moore and steeped in references to religious art of the Renaissance. This suggests Moore was trying to produce a sculpture that people would find both modern and familiar. The present work and the other bronze maquettes are later casts of the original terracotta models he made for the project.
Harry M. Goldblatt was a long-time admirer and collector of the works of Henry Moore. A world traveler, in 1972 he had the opportunity to visit with the artist in Europe. Since Harry's death in 1983, his collection of Moore's paintings and sculptures has remained intact and have been cherished by his family.