Luisa Roldán
Spanish, 1652–1706
The Education of the Virgin
1680s
polychrome paint, wood
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of the 2019 Collectors Committee with additional funds from Linda Borick and Bill Davidson on behalf of the Louis L. Borick Foundation
This freestanding statue measures 29 inches tall by 24 inches wide by 16 inches deep and is displayed in a plexiglass case at counter height. It is one piece of carved wood depicting two figures and it is painted, giving it a realistic quality.
The Education of the Virgin depicts figures from Christianity: the Virgin Mary, and her mother Anne. A woman, Anne, is seated with a book open on her lap. She leans forward towards it and with a gentle smile looks at a young girl of 8 or 9, the Virgin Mary. Mary stands on her mother’s right, leans over her lap to point at a line of text on the book’s page. Mary wears a neutral expression. The figure of Mary is proportionally smaller in size when compared to Anne which gives her a miniaturized quality. She is the height of a 5 year old.
The characters are depicted as white with long straight brown hair parted at centre. Anne is wearing a pink floor length robe with a length of brown fabric wrapped around her, partially covering her head. Mary wears the same type of dress. Her robe is a light brown and her wrap is blue. The codex or book of biblical text they are looking at is relatively small but thick and has four lines of handwritten latin text in large letters, the text faces us. It reads “Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi quod erum ex te Nat.” The chair Anne sits on is ornately carved and has a red painted backrest and gold joinery. It’s rounded high back features a three dimensional head of a realistic brown haired cherubim and large finials. Its armrests end in carved lion’s faces and from the back, the seat of the chair is realistic with the bottom showing the curve of Anne’s body sinking into the upholstery, the paint has mostly chipped off.
Exhibition label text:
Here, Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, teaches her daughter to read. Intimate teaching scenes were relatable to upper-class women of this era. Affluent mothers were responsible for instructing children until their sons went to school or acquired tutors. Educating their daughters continued in the home, including such household tasks as sewing, embroidery, and cooking as well as reading and writing to manage accounts and read scripture.