Vesperbild (Pietà)
c. 1515–20
Medium
lindenwood, polychromed and gilded
Dimensions
89.1 × 78.7 × 32.4 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1938.294
Tags
About this artwork
Depicting the Virgin cradling Christ’s dead body, works like this one were known in German as vesperbilds, owing to their incorporation into the liturgy of the evening prayer (vespers) on Good Friday. The word pietà—from the Latin pietas, meaning "piety" or "compassion"—was also used to describe such works. Like other devotional image types that emerged in southern Germany in the later medieval period, vesperbilds encouraged viewers to contemplate Christ’s suffering and empathize with the Virgin...
About the Artist
Master of Rabenden (German)
**German, Franconia (active ca. 1485–1500)** was an anonymous artist from the Franconian region of northern Bavaria, Germany, renowned for his contributions to late Gothic graphic arts. Little is known of his early life or training, as details about many anonymous masters from this era remain undocumented. Franconia, with its vibrant artistic centers like Nuremberg, fostered a rich tradition of re...