Lot Essay
The style, scale, and subject-matter of these two pieces clearly indicate that they both formed part of the same larger whole. They were very probably carved in Antwerp, and would appear to represent elements from an ambitious multi-figured scene of the Crucifixion. Saint Veronica is shown with her attribute of the Sudarium, the cloth with which she wiped Christ's face on the road to Calvary and which received a miraculous image of it, known as the 'Vera Icon'. She is balanced by two of the Holy Women, whose upward gazes indicate that they were originally shown in lamentation at the foot of the cross. The foremost of the two, who is fashionably dressed and has long, unbound hair must be Mary Magdalen.