Motherhood and Meaning in Medieval Sculpture: Representations from France, c.1100-1500

An examination of women as mothers in medieval French sculpture.

What can medieval sculptural representations of women tell us about medieval women's experiences of motherhood? Presumably the work of male sculptors, working for clerical patrons, these sculptures are unlikely to have been shaped by women's maternal experiences during their production. Once produced, however, their beholders would have included women who were mothers and potential mothers, thus opening a space between the scul...