Attributed to Balthasar Ferdinand Moll, Austrian, 18th century

With Julius Böhler, Starnberg, 2007;

From whom acquired by the late collector.

The present sculpture depicts the Virgin standing atop a globe, intertwined with a dragon, symbolizing her triumph over Sin. Her flowing dress appears as though it is billowing in the wind, and she gazes outward into the distance, exuding a sense of strength and determination. This composition, often referred to as the Madonna Immaculata, allegorically represents the Catholic belief in the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary was conceived without original sin. 

Although small in scale, this statuette captures the bravado and dynamism of the late Baroque aesthetic and the work of Balthasar Ferdinand Moll. In 1739, the Moll completed his first major project, the decoration for the pulpit of the Church of the Servites, Vienna. While creating this schema, the sculptor made three small-scale versions of the figures that would eventually adorn the Church's pulpit. These statuettes, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (accession number: 2002.175.1–.3), bear a strong resemblance to the present work. The movement and treatment of the drapery seen here are similar to that seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art set, particularly in the figure of Charity, where a where a similar shroud as the current one flows behind her. Additionally Charity, like the Virgin, is shown with her diminutive head slightly turned, looking into the distance, her arms held away from her body and her delicate fingers tapered.

Moll's reputation as a leading Austrian sculptor was firmly established following his completion of the state tombs for the Habsburg family in the Capuchin Church, Vienna. The most elaborate of these is the double sarcophagus created for Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I of Lorraine, which is, today, considered a masterpiece of late Baroque sculpture.

RELATED LITERATURE

Mit Leib und Seele: Münchner Rokoko von Asam bis Günther, R. Diederen and C. Kürzeder (eds.) Munich 2014, p. 400.