Image

Tilman Riemenschneider

Pietà, ca. 1515-1525

Description

Maker

Title

Pietà

Year

ca. 1515-1525

Medium

Linden wood

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

45.7 x 38.1 x 13.2 cm (18 x 15 x 5 3/16 inches)

Type

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

59.128

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

European Galleries

In this small sculpture, Mary grieves the death of her son. She supports his broken body and raises one hand in lamentation.

The figures are carved from linden wood, a material sculptors value for its softness and subtle grain. Fine incisions reveal the expressive faces, while deeper cuts frame the figures with drapery. The size of the work suggests that it could have been used as a private devotional object, but Riemenschneider might have made it as a model for a larger sculpture to be executed with the help of assistants in his workshop.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Pietà with the accession number of 59.128. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.