Mater Dolorosa (Sorrowing Virgin)
c. 1490
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
38.7 × 30.3 cm (15 1/4 × 11 7/8 in.); Framed: 43.2 × 34 × 4.8 cm (17 × 13 3/8 × 1 7/8 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
110673
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This grieving Madonna likely originally faced another panel depicting a similarly sorrowful Christ crowned with thorns. Portable devotional diptychs such as these were extremely popular in Northern Europe, and workshops like that of artist Dieric Bouts had a system for meeting this demand. A master artist’s design book, a closely guarded tool of the workshop, contained drawings that could be transferred by assistants directly onto the surface of a panel. The assistants could use the same drawing...