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.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1939.64

Location: 111 German and Austrian Gothic

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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. This work was long attributed to the Nuremberg artist Veit Stoss. In fact, the carver imitated forms from his repertoire. However, the concave folds do not occur before 1600. The sculpture was created at a time when the appreciation for Albrecht Dürer, the most famous German painter of his time, was also experiencing a renaissance.