European sculptors usually worked in stone, marble, or bronze, rather than in wood. In New France wood was used exclusively. Such things as ships' figureheads offered scope for the talents of skilled Canadian wood carvers, but most of their work embellished the colony's churches. The figures of saints, cherubim and seraphim, the virgin and child, were favourite subjects. This eighteenth century work by an unknown artist is one of the fine examples in the National Gallery of Canada.
Courtesy: National Gallery of Canada, National Museums of Canada
