Virgin from a Calvary Group
Unknown (southern France) · c. 1500
A grieving woman stands with her head bowed and her hands drawn together, wrapped in a heavy mantle that falls in long vertical folds. She is the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross, one figure from a Calvary group that once included the crucified Christ and Saint John. The statue is carved in walnut and keeps its original paint, which is rare for a wooden figure five hundred years old: the colours of the robe and the flesh tones have not been renewed. Look at the restrained gesture and the weight of the drapery, which carry the emotion without any dramatic movement.
The museum attributes the figure to a workshop in the south of France around fifteen hundred, a time when the late Gothic style in that region was quietly absorbing influences from Spain and Italy. Its origin is unknown. It appeared on the Paris art market between about 1910 and 1930 with the dealers Georges-Joseph and Lucien Demotte, was said to have belonged to a Desmazières collection that has never been identified, passed through a sale in December 1941 and was bought by the Louvre from Paul Gouvert in 1943.
Did You Know? The Virgin's paint has survived five centuries without being renewed, which is unusual for a wooden statue of this age.
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