This world famous sculpture by Henry Moore was commissioned as a War Memorial for Claydon Church to remember the men of Claydon who died in the Second World War. After Claydon Church was retired and Barham became the Parish Church for Claydon & Barham, the sculpture was moved to Barham and placed in its current position at the top of the steps in the Middleton Chapel under the supervision of Henry Moore himself. (see attached photo)
The following are extracts from the Church Recorders report
The sculpture was commissioned by Sir Jasper Ridley (1887 – 1951) in 1948. He was a resident of Claydon, and intended the sculpture as a memorial to his son and three other men from Claydon killed in WW2. The memorial was originally located in St Peter’s Church, Claydon. The sculptor Henry Moore, in an earlier commission, had created a Madonna and Child for St Matthew’s Church, Northampton. In preparation, he had produced a series of twelve small clay maquettes of the subject. Sir Jasper chose one of these maquettes and commissioned Moore to sculpt a full-size version in Hornton stone. The crown on the Madonna’s head was added by Moore at a later date and shows evidence of deterioration (ref b). The sculpture was unveiled in St Peter’s Claydon in 1949. It was relocated to St Mary’s Church, Barham in 1978, under the supervision of the artist, Henry Moore, after Claydon Church had been declared redundant.
Honey-coloured polished and rounded sculpture of the Madonna and Child in elementary figurative style, on a rectangular stone base with a narrower, elongated rectangular pedestal. It depicts the Madonna seated on a low bench, which has two hyperboloid-shaped flat legs, with the Child in her lap. She sits straight-backed with her hands resting on her thighs and clasped loosely in front of her so that her arms encircle the Child. Her legs are apart and angled sideways to her left. Her head is turned slightly to her right and she wears a thin, plain crown which has a central band of circular design. Her hair is gathered in a small bun at the neck. She wears a sleeved full-length robe and is bare foot. The Child, wearing a hooded sleeved robe, sits upright, facing straight ahead, with his back to the Madonna’s chest, knees raised, and his right arm rests on his mother’s right arm and his left arm is on her left thigh.On the front side of the pedestal is the memorial inscription in one size of incised v-cut, stylised Roman caps. Individual words are separated by small, triangular v-cut interpuncts, pointing down, while the four names of the dead are separated by triple v-cut interpuncts in a vertical line: upper triangular and pointing down, lower triangular and pointing up and central isosceles triangles.The pedestal rests on a wider, plain rectangular base. The sculpture shows some erosion, and damage to the Crown. A large crack runs down from the right arm of the Madonna, through the right leg and into the base. The pedestal has cracking and there are several loose fragments. No signature.
