Museum secures long-term loan of religious medieval art

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art has five objects of medieval art from the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on a two-year, renewable loan for both public enjoyment and teaching.

The objects — a reliquary, a censer, a diptych, a statuette and a limestone sculpture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus — are on view in the museum’s John and Ethel MacKinnon Gallery of European Art. These rare works reflect the diverse arts of Christian devotion and liturgy in Europe from the 14th through 16th centuries.

Pieces like the reliquary offered Christian believers what they saw as a direct visual access to the divine. The copper container would have held a relic — such as a piece of bone, hair or clothing — from a saint or holy person, which medieval Christians believed contained some of the holy essence of the saint. Praying in front of a relic could, therefore, help facilitate one’s prayers.

Statues of the Virgin and Child were one of the most popular sculptural forms of the late Middle Ages, and the stone and ivory versions on loan represent two different types of this motif.

“This loan a came from the desire to offer our visitors the opportunity to view items that we do not have in our own collection,” said senior curator of Western art Johanna G. Seasonwein. “Furthermore, this will give students at the university the opportunity to view items in person that are relevant to their studies.”

Maile Hutterer, assistant professor of the history of art and architecture, worked closely with Seasonwein to ensure that the items would connect directly with courses taught in a variety of departments and programs, from history to music to romance Languages.

Loans such as these take significant time to finalize and come with substantial costs. In this case, support was generously provided by a museum academic support grant, the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, the Office of the Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Medieval Studies Program, the Giustina Professorship of Italian Languages and Literatures, and the Department of Romance Languages.