Henry Moore: Madonna and Child
Title: Madonna and Child
Artist: Henry Moore (1898–1986, British)
Location: North Transept, St Matthew’s, Northampton (C of E)
Date: 1943–4
Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child was carved for St Matthew’s as part of a suite of commissions by its second vicar, the Rev’d Walter Hussey, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the church’s consecration. The church has since become an important commissioner of works of music, poetry and art.
Madonna and Child is in Hornton stone. The figures are simple and solid, both tender and dignified. The Christ Child is seated on Mary’s lap, his face solemn, his legs tucked up, his hand in Mary’s. On his throne of Mary’s oversized legs and feet he is vulnerable but protected. Her large hands are gentle as she holds him. Her head is turned slightly to the right and she looks into the distance, acknowledging his role in salvation.
The sculpture has been lent several times to international exhibitions, but is primarily an object of devotion, a tangible presence in the church: Mary’s knees have become shiny from the touch of worshippers and visitors. The base has been used as a time capsule and contains newspaper cuttings from the sculpture’s installation and other events in the recent history of the church.
Henry Moore (1898–1986, British) decided to become a sculptor at only eleven after hearing of Michelangelo’s achievements. The dual influences of non-western art, particularly pre-Columbian stone sculpture, and his collections of driftwood and other organic forms were to have a profound impact in creating his instantly recognizable and unique personal style. Best known perhaps are his large-scale bronze undulating abstractions of the human form, many in a reclining position. In the 30s he became part of the burgeoning creative community in Hampstead that included his colleague from college, the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, as well as artists from continental Europe. His work as a war artist, sketching the effects of the Blitz, led to national and international commissions.
Moore produced many public commissions including at UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France and at the Houses of Parliament, United Kingdom. In 1948 Moore won the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale. He was among the featured artists of the Festival of Britain in 1951 and participated in the legendary Documenta 1 in 1955. One of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century, his body is interred in the Artists’ Corner at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Further Information
Medium: Hornton stone
Size: 226cm
Permanent display
See Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child on the Ecclesiart map here.
Commissioner: Walter Hussey
Other artworks in churches by Henry Moore: Circular Altar (1972), St Stephen, Walbrook; Madonna and Child (1948–9), St Mary’s, Barham; Single Standing Figure (1981), Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban (on loan from Henry Moore Foundation); Mother and Child: Hood (1983), St Paul’s Cathedral; Head of King and Queen (1953), St Andrew’s, Much Hadham; Hand Relief No. 1 (1956), Edith Sitwell gravestone, St Mary and St Peter, Weedon Lois.
Other modern and contemporary works in St Matthew’s Northampton: The Crucifixion (1946), Graham Sutherland; stations of the cross (1987), modelled by David Thomas and cast by D C Giles; The Risen Christ (1992), Malcolm Pollard; St Matthew (2009), Ian Rank-Broadley.