This magnificent alabaster Pietà dates from the early 15th century.
The sculpted group shows the dead Christ lying on the Virgin’s legs. The Virgin is seated, her left hand firmly holding the head of her Son, while her right hand rests delicately on his body.
The Virgin’s head is tilted slightly forward, concealed by a thick veil. Her fine eyes, discreetly half-open, betray the Virgin’s profound sadness.
She is clad in a mantle, the drapery of which, carefully executed, falls over the sculpted base, characteristic of the Gothic period.
Christ’s head hangs down, secured by the Virgin’s hand. The Holy Crown is placed on his long hair. Christ’s face appears peaceful, contrasting with the strong emotion of his Mother.
His body is finely carved, the protruding ribs and the striking thinness of Christ are emphasised by the sculptor. The position of his left hand reveals Jesus’ stigmata.
The lower part of his body is covered by a short perizonium, tied around his waist. Finally, Christ’s right leg is missing.
On the sculpted base, there is a bone on the far right of the sculpture and a skull below Christ. A symbol of vanity, the skull represents mortality, the passing of time and judgement. As for the bone, it is associated with the abandonment of the carnal envelope and the return to matter.
Finally, underneath the sculpture is a hole suggesting that it was attached to a larger structure, possibly a carved wooden altarpiece of the kind often found in fifteenth-century Europe.
It is possible to find a certain correspondence between this work and the statues from the Rimini altar in the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt.
The Rimini altar, purchased by Georg Swarenzki for the Liebieghaus (Frankfurt), takes the form of a Crucifixion in which numerous figures are involved. The central section features Christ on the Cross, towering over the two thieves, and Roman soldiers. These figures are accompanied by Longinus, the grieving Virgin, Saint John and the Twelve Apostles.
The altar originally decorated the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Covignano, near Rimini, and was probably commissioned by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (Lord of Rimini) from an artist known as the Master of Rimini.
According to recent research by Anton Legner, Paul Williamson, Monique Blanc and Kim Woods, the Master of Rimini can be likened to a sculptor active in the Southern Netherlands between 1390 and 1450, possibly Gillis de Backere, who worked at the court of Philip the Good.
As far as we know, the Master of Rimini was a sculptor (or a group of sculptors) who supervised a workshop from the early 1420s to mid-1440, and whose works were exported mainly to Silesia, France, Italy and Savoy. He probably only worked in alabaster, and produced several Pietàs, all with elaborate drapery, showing the anguished faces of the Virgin and her Son.
More generally, the works of the Master of Rimini are characterised by a certain angularity in the facial structure of the figures (the face is wider at the temples than at the jaw, the cheeks are chiselled, etc.), as well as by the concentrated mass of folds in the drapery. The piétà we are presenting shares several of these formal characteristics, leading us to consider attributing it to the Master of Rimini.