Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist Mourning
Loading...
Authors
Francesco di Valdambrino
Date
Type
image
Language
Keyword
Virgin , Mary , St. John the Evangelist , Mourning , Mourners , Crucifixion
Alternative Title
Abstract
These painted wood sculptures of the mourning Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist were originally made to stand on either side of a crucifix. They come from the Spedale di Santa Chiara in Pisa and are currently housed in the Museo di San Matteo in Pisa. Before being moved to the museum, they flanked a crucifix that is still in Santa Chiara. The mourners are generally attributed to Francesco di Valdambrino (the Sienese specialist in wood sculpture), but the crucifix is clearly by a different, earlier artist, and so these sculptures may have been made to transform an earlier, venerated crucifix into a larger Crucifixion narrative, offering the viewers models for how to mourn Christ in their restrained grief. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Museo di San Matteo, Pisa; Spedale di Santa Chiara
Citation
Enzo Carli, Il Museo di Pisa (Pisa: Pacini, 1974), 28-9 cat. 21; Mariagiulia Burresi, ed., Sacre passioni: Scultura lignea a Pisa dal XII al XV secolo (Pisa: Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, 2000), 203, 207-8, 215.