Looking forward 2025, the Musée de Cluny wishes to acquire a very beautiful and rare sculpture from the end of the 15th century and need your support.
This small statue carved in lime wood, about fifty centimetres high, was probably intended for a private oratory. It represents Mary Magdalene, who can be identified by the vase of perfumes she holds in her hands and her loose, flowing hair, marvelously executed by the sculptor.
The wonderful execution of the long curly hair and the opulent drapery with broken folds, as well as the very good state of conservation, apart from a few wood-boring insect bites, make this statue an example of the very high level of sculpture in Strasbourg at the end of the 15th century.
Numerous details allow the scientific community to attribute this small statue to the Master of the Lautenbach alterpiece, who worked in the Strasbourg region around 1470-1480 in the entourage of the sculptor Nicolas Gerhaert de Leyde. With its incisive and precise modeling, the Mary Magdalene statue is a rare testimony of the important artistic activity of this region.
This magnificent Mary Magdalene, originally from the Lucelle Abbey in the upper Rhine, would naturally find its place in the Musée de Cluny, which would finally show an Alsacian sculpture alongside its Swabian, Franconian or Swiss works of the same period, and contribute to represent the stylistic evolution of one of the most dynamic and influent artistic centre in the Germanic Empire.
It is a unique opportunity as no equal work, made of wood, from Alsace, Strasbourg or even from the Rhine dating back to the end of the 15th century had been put for sale for several decades. Also, this type of statue has no equivalent in the French public collection as well as in Alsacian churches.
All these reasons justify the classification of the Mary Magdalene as a National Treasure by the Ministry of Culture in November 2023. The museum now has 30 months from the classification to collect the € 429, 000 the work was auctioned for, including costs, in June 2023.
The Musée de Cluny is looking for sponsors to help it raise this sum and allow this outstanding work to join the public collections. It still needs to raise €200,000.
If you are an American donor and would like to help the Musée de Cluny, you can make a donation via our partner Friends of Fondation de France.
