Featured BLACK MADONNA OF MONTSERRAT ALTAR STATUE AGE AND Origin?

Hi, I am hoping someone can give me an idea of the age and possibly the origin of this piece. It is made of chalkware has some rough spots, and the base it sits on is wood and was obviously mounted at one time. The figure itself measures around 9.5" and with the base it measures around 14.75" There is a hand written card with it but between the misspellings and some of the references, I am a little confused on what to make of that. There was a St. Lukes hospital here (Davenport, Iowa) that was built in 1886 and brought down a number of years ago. Some of the note isn't what we now call politically correct, but I think it is saying something about Moorish, not negroid, and have I no idea what the Florentine/Florence or "Barcellona" is referring to. If anyone has any general knowledge and/or can decipher the note and can help me learn more about this it will be greatly appreciated.

 

According to legend, the statue was carved by St. Luke. Think that's the reference. And Barcelona is the closest big city to the abbey which may have been the writer's reason for connecting the two. S/he writes it was bought in Florence but that doesn't seem likely as she's not venerated there. More likely she'd have been bought in Catalonia where she's the patron saint.

Debora

 

I've seen her, close up in real life, and touched her.

Montserrat is the most extraordinary, wonderful place. The serrated mountain, and spiritual heart of Catalunya. Even if you're not of a faith, it has such a resonance to it.

And being practical Catalans, it also has a couple of extremely good cafes and restaurants, as well as outdoor stalls selling wonderful produce. And cats! Many cats, all very well fed and cared for, the monks seem to love them.

There's also a fabulous choir.

That looks like an older devotional piece to me, a local one, made for homes. Many Catalan women have Montserrat/Montse as a first name.

This one is mine:

 

I think it was designed for home devotion too. And suspect "49-53" are dates within which it was purchased. Perhaps by someone in the military. (Isn't four years the length of a typical tour of duty?)

Debora

 

These are lovely. Now I want one.

 

I'll keep an eye out!

She's properly known as the Virgin of Montserrat rather than the Madonna. And in real life, is astonishing. It's a very hair on the back of the neck place.

And again, because it's CAtalunya, it's slap bang in one of the best wine and cava producing areas on the planet.

 

Beautiful examples. I have a mass produced version made of clay from Spain.

 

Thanks everyone for all of the information and filling in a lot of blanks. Still not sure how Florence fits in, and I was also wondering how difficult it is to make repairs to some of the chipped areas? I wouldn't attempt those myself, but whoever ends up owning it will probably want to do that. Thank you all again.

 

Chalkware is the same as plaster, no? It would be possible to fill the voids. As for the paint match, a competent artist would be able to do that, if not a full-on conservator. A good rule of thumb is to compare the overall historic and monetary value against the price for a professional conservator.

 

Right. I actually know someone who uses a 3D printer to make tiny fantasy game pieces and even has a working relationship with Testors to assess their new paints and brushes. I plan on selling it though so I think I will leave any repairs up to the new owner.