04/12/2024
The Madanna of Bruges is notable in that it was the first sculpture by Michelangelo to leave Italy during his lifetime. In 1504, it was bought by Giovanni and Alessandro Moscheroni. The brothers were wealthy merchants in Bruges, that was one of the leading commercial cities in Europe at that time. The sculpture was removed twice from Belgium after its initial arrival. The first was in 1794 after French Revolutionaries had conquered the Austrian Netherlands during the French Revolutionary Wars: the citizens of Bruges were ordered to ship it and several other valuable works of art to Paris. It was returned after Nappolean's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The second removal was in 1944, during World War ll, with the retreat of German soldiers, who smuggled the sculpture to Germany. It was discovered a year later in Altausee, Austria within a salt mine and again returned. It now sits in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium. This is represented in the 2014 film The Monuments men.
The gentleman that Made the bust has the exclusive rights from the Vatican to have taken the laser patterns from the originals and that is why it has the Vatican coin and numbered edition on it. The Vatican gave permission for him to make a limited number of each edition.
