Mother and Child: Hood 1983
travertine marble
height 183cm
on loan from the Henry Moore Foundation
The idea of a piece for St Paul’s was put to Moore in 1983, when he was recovering from a serious illness. The commission did much to reinvigorate him: ’I can’t get this Madonna and Child out of my mind,’ he said. ’It may be my last work, and I want to give it the feel of having a religious connotation'. Moore decided that travertine marble would be a more suitable material than bronze for the site chosen, in the north choir aisle of the cathedral, close to the main altar. The task of carving the large piece, which stands seven feet high, was entrusted to the stone carvers of the Henraux stoneyard in Querceta in the Carrara mountains of northern Italy, where in his younger days Moore himself had carved many works.
http://www.henry-moore.org/works-in-public/world/uk/london/st-pauls-cathedral/mother-and-child-hood-1983-lh-851
Henry Moore 的 Mother and Child: Hood 第一眼看上去，如果不知道tittle，还是会做和很多猜想， 离远一点看， 能感觉到石雕表现出一种本能强大的呵护，又是在 圣保罗大教堂，马上会联想到圣母玛利亚怀抱基督耶稣 的那些油画， 可 再走近看 又可以看到雕塑同时又刻画 人类繁殖必须的 过程：受精和 分娩。
Henry Moore 的母亲一直被风湿病折磨， 从小就目睹母亲的疾苦， 这个雕塑也是他心底里对母亲的爱，和对女性的敬意， 再放在圣保罗大教堂，又有更多意义， 基督教认为圣母玛利亚是是圣洁的，圣保罗大教堂是一个很开明的教堂，曾经约旦国王 的葬礼也在这就举行， 约旦王子在这高声朗读 伊斯兰可兰经。
很高兴有机会能学习Henry Moore 这个作品， 很感动
