The size of Virgin and Child is smaller than life-size. It appears to be a little less than three feet in height. Mary is holding …show more content…
The most detailed aspects of Virgin and Child are the creases in Mary’s clothing and her and Jesus’s hair. The facial features and the crown are not clearly defined, but they could potentially just be worn with age. The lines that compose the fabric of her dress are shallow and smooth creating a soft depiction of her clothing. The shadows that these lines allow are faint in most areas, with a pretty even light source on it. There a few spots with darker shadows, but for the most part, they are delicate. Both Mary and Jesus’s faces are hard to see because their features are very lightly carved. They are not very detailed and are not finely carved. The lines that compose Guanyin, however, are more sharply carved and are deeper. The features of the crown and face are more clearly defined than they are in Virgin and Child, as well as the beads. The facial features create a more realistically distributed shadow over the cheeks and under the brow bone. The lines in the traditional monk’s robes are not as deeply set, but the layers of the cloth creates a deeper shadow above the inner elbow area. The quality of the lines make it easier to see the overall composition of Guanyin as opposed to the faded look of Virgin and …show more content…
Virgin and Child is made mainly of limestone, a type of greyish-white stone that is typically attributed to the time period that this statue was created. While this work consists of the somewhat shiny quality and somewhat grainy quality of stone, Guanyin was created using wood as a base and using gesso, paint, and gilding to add upon it. This gives the figure a brown color and gives it faint cracks that are qualities of wooden work. On the figure’s cheek, there is a splatter looking mark that is golden in color and slightly shiny. There are also areas of darker color like on parts of the robe, and areas of lighter color like on other areas of the robe to show where the clothing begins and where the body ends. Guanyin is not shiny like some aspects of Virgin and Child are. It has a matte finish about it. The colors and materials help distinguish the time period they were created in and the location they were created