Date of Origin
The statue is dated around the year 980 and was thus created during the tenure of Mathilda II (971–1011), a granddaughter of Emperor Otto I, as abbess of Essen Abbey. Under her reign and those of her successors Sophia of Gandersheim (1012–1039) and Theophanu (1039–1058), the abbey acquired what is today considered the most precious of the works of art of the Essen treasury. The creator of the sculpture is unknown, but it is generally presumed to have been crafted in either Cologne or Hildesheim. Hildesheim is home to a Madonna slightly younger than the one in Essen, while Cologne seems more likely as the home of the artist since the folds in the Madonna’s gown resemble those of the "Otto-Matilda-cross" dated 982 which is also part of the Essen treasury but was doubtless created by a Cologne goldsmith as it shares many features with the Gero crucifix of Cologne Cathedral.
Read more about this topic: Golden Madonna Of Essen
Famous quotes containing the words date and/or origin:
“We, when we sow the seeds of doubt deeper than the most up-to- date and modish free-thought has ever dreamed of doing, we well know what we are about. Only out of radical skepsis, out of moral chaos, can the Absolute spring, the anointed Terror of which the time has need.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)