Mourning Virgin
The Virgin with arms folded to her chest and head bowed: an early 16th-century South German carving in limewood, a figure of grief that once stood beneath a cross. Full commentary ↓
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Mourning Virgin is a wooden object by an unknown maker (1510–20) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 33 × 21.4 × 12.2 cm.
In the pictureA woman with a head scarf pulled down low sits with her head bowed and her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her garment flows down below the knees in heavy folds, and her eyes are lowered and her mouth closed. With no paint, the grain and color of the wood show as they are; the height is 33 cm.
BackgroundThis figure appears to have originally stood beside Christ on the cross. Placing Mary and John as a pair beneath the cross is a long-standing custom of medieval altars. Limewood, fine-grained, soft and unlikely to split, was a favorite of South German sculptors in the early 16th century, and many works of this period, like those of Riemenschneider, were left unpainted, using the wood itself as the finish. The way the drapery folds are carved large and angular belongs to that tradition.
Puzzle tipThe gray background and the brown of the wood separate clearly, so the outline pieces are easy to find. Fit the face and hands first, then join the drapery folds by the direction of the dark grooves and bright ridges. Handle the outer background pieces starting with those that catch the curve of the statue's silhouette, and fewer pieces will be left over.
- Culture
- South German
- Classification
- Sculpture-Wood
- Medium
- Limewood
- Dimensions
- 33 x 21.4 x 12.2 cm
- Credit line
- Rogers Fund, 1909
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Grief Carved in Wood Grain, Without Paint: A South German Virgin
Grief expressed through the grain of limewood alone, without a drop of paint. A long look at a 16th-century South German sculpture that once stood beneath the Cross.
