Lot Essay
This finely carved group of the Pieta belongs to a distinctive group of alabaster carvings of the same subject attributed to the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece. The attribution is based on the existence of a large and highly sophisticated alabaster dated to circa 1430 that was purchased from S. Maria delle Grazie in Rimini-Covignano in 1913 and is now housed in the Liebeighaus, Frankfurt Am Main (loc. cit.). Although scholarship has offered different opinions on the nationality of the author, it is now generally considered to be the work of a southern Netherlandish or northern French sculptor who executed the altarpiece sometime prior to the Church's consecration in 1432.
Virtually nothing is known about this master or his circle, but it is likely that he operated a workshop with a number of assistants if one is to take into consideration the complexity of this altarpiece and the large number of subsequent carvings that were made in the same style. The largest known group of alabasters carved in this style are most frequently of the Pieta, an example of which is offered here. Although none of them is completely identical, they all display a very similar attention to the elaborately carved drapery of the Virgin's cloak and to the anguished facial types of both the Virgin and Christ.
Virtually nothing is known about this master or his circle, but it is likely that he operated a workshop with a number of assistants if one is to take into consideration the complexity of this altarpiece and the large number of subsequent carvings that were made in the same style. The largest known group of alabasters carved in this style are most frequently of the Pieta, an example of which is offered here. Although none of them is completely identical, they all display a very similar attention to the elaborately carved drapery of the Virgin's cloak and to the anguished facial types of both the Virgin and Christ.