The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 24, 2024

Mourning Virgin from a Crucifixion Group

Mourning Virgin from a Crucifixion Group

about 1620/40

Overall: 31 x 9.8 x 8.7 cm (12 3/16 x 3 7/8 x 3 7/16 in.)

Did You Know?

Looking closely, you can see that the sculptor carved tears under Mary's eyes. They show her pain over Christ hanging on the cross.

Description

This statuette once formed part of a Crucifixion group intended for a domestic shrine or chapel. Such ensembles were not only used for private devotion and meditation, but were also collected as works of art. Despite the regrettable loss of arms and hands, the work’s virtuosity in capturing the Virgin’s profound sorrow is evident in the sensuous carving of her tearful face, the subtle rendering of her long wavy hair, and the exaggerated treatment of her fluttering garment. Veit Stoss was one of the greatest German sculptors of the period. A native of Swabia and believed to have received part of his training in the Upper Rhine valley, he was active mainly in Nuremberg and Krakow. While known mostly for his monumental works, he also produced small-scale statuettes and ensembles such as this one for private devotion.
  • 1937
    Auction: Collection R. Paris, Nachlass eines Wiener Arztes, Gemälde, Auktion in der Galerie Fischer, im Hotel National, Luzern, August 30-September 4, 1937
    1937-1939
    (Boehler & Steinmeyer, Lucerne, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art).
    1939-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Eberhard Lutze, and Lionel H. Pries. Katalog der Veit Stoss-Ausstellung im Germanischen Museum: Juni bis August, 1933. [Nürnberg]: [Germanisches Museum], 1933. no. 12
    Galerie Fischer. Collection R. Paris: Nachlass eines Wiener Arztes ... Gemälde. Luzern: Gallerie Fischer, 1937. no. 320
    Karteikarte Luzern: L_10427, Zentralinstitute Fur Kunstgeschichte, 1937. boehler.zikg.eu
    Collection R. Paris, Wien. Collection R. Paris Nachlass eines Wiener Arztes : Gemälde : Auktion in der Galerie Fischer, im Hotel National, Luzern, 1937. Luzern: Galerie Fischer, 1937.
    Thieme, Ulrich, Felix Becker, Fred. C. Willis, and Hans Vollmer. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1907. 133
    Masterpieces of Sculpture: November 1 - December 11, 1940 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1940. cat. no. 24, p 158
    "Cleveland Museum" Life Magazine (Sept. 20, 1943). 64
    Illustrated London News (April 6, 1946). p. 384
    "Masterpieces of Sculpture" The Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 38, no. 29 (February 5, 1949). no. 24.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 189 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and William Mathewson Milliken. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. p. 32
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Edward B. Henning. Paths of Abstract Art. 1960. p. 8, cat. no. 6
    Dettloff, Szcze̦sny. Wit Stosz. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1961. vol. I, 113-114, 302; vol. 2, illls. 237-238
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 67 archive.org
    Lutze, Eberhard. Veit Stoss. München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1968. 51, ill. p. 65
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 67 archive.org
    Rasmussen, Jörg "Zum kleinplastischen Werke des Veit Stoss," Pantheon 34, no. 2 (1976). 108-109.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 77 archive.org
    Baxandall, Michael. The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980. 122, 126-128
    Decker, Bernhard, Herbert Beck, and Albrecht Dürer. Dürers Verwandlung in der Skulptur zwischen Renaissance und Barock: Ausstellung im Liebieghaus Museum alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main, 1. November bis 17. Januar 1982. Frankfurt am Main: Das Museum, 1981. 200-201, fig. 53.
    Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986. cat. no. 91, p. 243
    Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986. 243-245; no. 91
    Rosenfeld, Jörg. Die nichtpolychromierte Retabelskulptur als bildreformerisches Phänomen im ausgehenden Mittelalter und in der beginnenden Neuzeit. Ammersbek bei Hamburg: Verlag an der Lottbek, 1990. 149, footnote no. 434.
    Riemenschneider, Tilman, Julien Chapuis, and Michael Baxandall. Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages. 1999. cat. no. 35, pp. 297-298
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 246-247, no. 92
    Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. p. 254, repr. p. 255, no. 95
  • Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (October 3, 1999-January 9, 2000); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 7-May 14, 2000).
    Masterpieces of Sculpture, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN (November 1 - December 11, 1940).
    Exhibition of Sculpture, Dudley P. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 6 - January 31, 1950).
    Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (April 8-June 22, 1986).
    Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 5-November 13, 1960).
    Exhibition of the Month: Of Wood and Stone. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 15-June 2, 1949).
  • {{cite web|title=Mourning Virgin from a Crucifixion Group|url=false|author=|year=about 1620/40|access-date=24 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1939.64