File:1948 Madonna and Child by Henry Moore (4052632209).jpg

Middleton Chapel, St Mary and St Peter, Barham, Suffolk During the war Sir Jasper Ridley was Chairman of the Trustees of the National Gallery, whose director was (Lord) Kenneth Clark. Henry Moore had been approached by Canon Walter Hussey, a firm supporter of contemporary art for churches, for a sculpture to commemorate the 50th anniversary of St Matthew, Northampton, having commissioned a cantata from Benjamin Britten and a Crucifixion from Graham Sutherland. Moore was at first reluctant but produced a set of maquettes which were displayed in Kenneth Clark’s office at the National Gallery to allow Canon Hussey to make his choice. Clark noted that the maquettes were ‘the most exciting sight I have ever seen', adding that Ridley wanted to commission the model chosen as the best if Hussey didn’t, or indeed another one. In 1948 Ridley, who lived at Mockbeggars Hall in Claydon, commissioned the Madonna and Child from Moore as a war memorial for his son and three others from Claydon, killed in World War II. He chose one of the larger terracotta maquettes prepared for the Northampton commission ( HL 222), although the final sculpture was smaller than the Northampton version, so that Moore added a crown from ground stone and fixative to give added majesty.