The Virgin - Possibly Bavarian School, c.1470/1480

We see a bust of the Virgin Mary. Her gaze is cast downward and her expression is sombre and restrained: a silent moment of thoughts, emotions and love for her son. She wears a veil that falls over her head and shoulders, a white cloth around her chin and neck, and a red gown. The bust stands on a stepped octagonal base. Her polychromy consists of blue, which has turned greenish with time, red and white. Blue has been associated with Mary since the Middle Ages and refers to heaven, and white to her purity and virginity. Red is often read as the colour of the earth and of blood, although the explanation differs from source to source.
Her downcast gaze and bowed posture belong to the Mater Dolorosa, Mary as the Mother of Sorrows: an older, grieving Mary with a white veil and lowered eyes, sometimes with a tear. From her gaze and posture we may assume that this is possibly a fragment of a Lamentation or a Crucifixion. It may also be a deliberately made half-length figure: half-length figures of the Mater Dolorosa and the Man of Sorrows were often made as a pair in the late fifteenth century.

Sculpted in wood
We’d like to thank dr. Michael Rief for his advice.
Dimensions: 37 x 29 x 15 cm