Cleveland Museum of Art

Vesperbild (Pietà)

Master of Grosslobming

Date

c. 1420

Medium

painted cast stone

Culture

Austria, Steiermark, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The word vesperbild is the German word for pietà, the image of the Virgin Mary cradling her dead son on her lap. The theme has no literary source; it originated in Germany during the early 1300s and was more widespread in central Europe than in Italy. These devotional sculptures were used within the interior of a church, in small side chapels dedicated to the Virgin. As in this example, they often convey her grief in a sensitive way. For those who prayed before them, vesperbilds were poignant reminders of the Passion of Christ and the suffering of the Virgin.

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