Beautiful Madonna of Toruń

The patronage over the art was taken by the growing bourgeois class, which commissioned an unknown artist, described in literature as the Master of the Beautiful Madonna of Toruń, to create a monumental statue of the Mother and Child around 1390 probably for the Franciscan Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Old Town.

In 1921, Jan Rutkowski subjected the sculpture to conservation procedures, removing subsequent repainting, but leaving traces of medieval polychromy.

In 1956, a Toruń sculptor Witold Marciniak made a faithful reconstruction of the lost work, then placed it on the original console with Moses.

Mary was depicted at a young age, her face is full of beauty, she has delicate features, high forehead, slightly closed eyes and small lips.

This relationship of gestures creates a strong accent on the composition based also on the smooth arrangement of the garment folds, Mary's contrasting pose and slightly inclined heads.

The sculpture of Mary and the Child stood on an ornamental console, made up of an almost full-fledged figure of Moses emerging from the flames of a burning bush.

The prophet is portrayed as a person of a mature age, with his head firmly leaning down, with wrinkles on his cheeks and forehead, and eyebrow arches and orbits strongly highlighted.

The dynamic, fluid composition, far-reaching idealization of beauty and subtle decoration of the abundant draperies of the robes and the studio contrast of Mary's posture, soft modeling of the Infant's body, correct proportions, knowledge of anatomy, spatiality of individual elements of the body and attention to detail confirm this stylish synthesis.

The Czech Republic with Prague, Silesia with Wrocław, France with Paris, Austria with Salzburg and the Rhineland with Cologne are considered to be the main centres that were to shape the style around 1400.

The court culture and the Parler's trend are important foundations for the beautiful style, these two tendencies have marked a large part of Europe.

This gesture means the forgiveness of the sins of humanity and its forefather and foremother, who were the first to reach out and taste the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge against God's will.

During the service celebrated by John Paul II at the airport in Toruń as part of the 7th Apostolic Journey around Poland on June 7, 1999, Karol Wojtyła received a replica of the Beautiful Madonna made by Tadeusz Porębski.

As part of the first anniversary of John Paul II's visit to the cathedral, a statue of the Pope made by Radosław Ociepa was unveiled.