‘Descent of the Spirit’, St.Columba's Abbey Cloisters, Iona, Argyll & Bute.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 56° 20.103 W 006° 23.499
29V E 661245 N 6246426
One of three identical sculptures by the artist Jacques Lipchitz.
Waymark Code: WMHYT9
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/28/2013
Views: 1
Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in August 1891 in Druskininkai, Lithuania, which was then within the Russian Empire. At first his father, a building contractor, encouraged him to study engineering, but in 1909 he moved to Paris, supported by his mother, to study at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian. He embraced cubism after joining a group of artists that included Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso. He died on 16th May, 1973 and is buried in Jerusalem.
This sculpture is ‘Descent of the Spirit’ and was given to the Abbey by Jacques himself and carries the following wording in French on the reverse:-
Jacob
Lipchitz juif fidéle
a la fonde ses ancêtres
a fait cette vierge pour
la bonne entente des
hommes sur la terre afin
que l'esprit régne.
One translation is ‘Jacob Lipchitz, Jew, faithful to the religion of his ancestors, has made this Virgin for the better understanding of human beings on this earth so that the Spirit may prevail.’ Another is 'Jacob Lipchitz, Jew, faithful to the faith of his ancestors, has made this virgin for the good will of all mankind that the spirit might prevail'
One of the other sculptures is in New Harmony, Indiana, and the interpretation of the inscription teaches that 'Christianity will rise again to bless the earth to the extent that we rediscover the sacredness of everything that has been born in the universe'.
The third original is in the Roman Catholic Church of Assy, Haute Savoire, France.
The sculpture shows the Virgin supported in a starry cloud descending to earth, represented by animals, birds and humans, and carried by the Holy Spirit, a Dove.