The Musée des Beaux-Arts is organizing an exhibition-dossier around an exceptional work of the production of Touraine from the early sixteenth century: the Virgin of the Map of Michel Colombe. This sculpture, which has long been kept in a private collection, was only seen once by the general public at the exhibition France 1500 (Paris, Grand-Palais, 2010-2011). In 2022, the Louvre acquired Virgin of the Map and restored it. The loan of the statue is an opportunity to present for the first time this unique work in its creative context.
The command of this Virgin with the Child was very likely passed by Jacques de Beaune to Michel Colombe for the chapel of the castle of the Card (present-day commune of Ballan-Miré). Mayor of Tours in 1498-1499, governor and bailiff of Touraine in 1516, the master of silverware quickly became an important figure at court. Great financier of the kingdom, he supported in particular the war effort in Italy, and had the confidence of Queen Anne of Brittany then of Francis I’s mother, Louise of Savoy, before being disgraced and hanged in 1527. His social success and ambition are reflected in particular in his properties and artistic commissions given to contemporary artists (castle, mansion, fountain, tapestries, stained glass windows, sculptures...), which will be discussed in the exhibition.
Few works have survived from Michel Colombe, the most famous sculptor in Tours during these years, who is notably the author of the commemorative medal of the entry of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne to Tours in 1500, and to whom the Queen has entrusted the realization of the tombs of her parents (Nantes) and her children (Tours). The Virgin of the Map It has always been attributed to its style; it is a major work, which stands out in the production of its time, and must be particularly Virgin with the Child painted by Jean Fouquet, for one of the panels in the diptych of Melun.
The exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours aims to shed light on the unique character of this sculpture by placing it in the context of the artistic commissions of Jacques de Beaune, comparing it with statues of the Virgin and Child from the Loire Valley, and retracing its more recent material history thanks to the discoveries revealed during the investigation carried out by C2RMF on the occasion of its restoration.