Offered by Del Rey Antiquités
Virgin of pity in marble carved in round hump with remains of polychromy.
Seated, the weeping Virgin holds a part of her veil at the fringed edge of her left hand in a gesture of affliction and carries with her other hand the bust of her dead son lying on her knees ; beautiful pleated of the dress and coat returning to the knees and spreading on the floor.
As for Christ, his head is drooping, secured by the hand of the Virgin. The holy Crown is placed on his long hair. The face seems peaceful, contrasting with the strong emotion of his Mother.
His body is finely cut, the protruding ribs as well as the striking thinness of Christ are highlighted by the sculptor.
Under the sculpture is a hole suggesting its fixing a wider structure potentially a carved wooden altarpiece as is often found in Europe at this time.
It is possible to find a certain correspondence between this work and the statues of the altar of Rimini, preserved at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt.
From what is known, the Master of Rimini is a sculptor (or a group of sculptors) supervising a workshop of the early 1380s and 1450s, and whose works are exported mainly to Silesia, France, Italy and Savoy.
More generally, the works of the Master of Rimini are characterized by a certain angularity of the facial structure of figures, as well as by the concentrated mass of the folds of the drapes.
