Virgin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sculpture originally stood high on the choir screen of Strasbourg Cathedral. Its place of honor near the center was marked by a canopy with angels holding a crown over the Virgin’s head. A rosebush stood next to Mary and the now-missing Child, linking Mary with Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of the Messiah: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root." The choir screen was removed in 1682, as part of a wider effort to allow the faithful to see the altar.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art