Our Lady of Westminster, Medieval statue in Westminster Abbey, England
Our Lady of Westminster is an alabaster statue placed above the west entrance of Westminster Abbey in London, showing the Virgin Mary seated on a throne with the Christ Child on her lap. Mary holds a scepter in her right hand, while the Child carries a globe and raises his hand in blessing.
The statue was made around 1450 in the Nottingham area from alabaster quarried at Chellaston, at a time when English workshops were producing religious carvings in large numbers. The Reformation of the 16th century brought that tradition to a sudden end and destroyed much of what had been made.
The image of Mary enthroned with the Christ Child was one of the most common devotional subjects in medieval English churches. Alabaster carvings from the Nottingham area were traded across Europe and placed in chapels, altars, and homes as objects of prayer.
The statue sits on the exterior above the west door and can be seen from the public square in front of the Abbey without any admission. Daytime light gives the clearest view from street level, and standing back a little helps take in the full figure.
The Child holds a globe rather than the orb more common in medieval religious carvings, a detail that sets this work apart from most other alabaster figures of the same period. The original sculpture's whereabouts are unknown, and the piece seen today above the door is a later copy.
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