96 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

The Mourning St. John the Evangelist with two male figures (fragment of a crucifixion from a portable altarpiece)

Accession Number
1966/1.108

Title
The Mourning St. John the Evangelist with two male figures (fragment of a crucifixion from a portable altarpiece)

Artist(s)
Embriachi Workshop, Venice, Italy

Object Creation Date
circa 1400

Medium & Support
bone

Dimensions
4 11/16 in. x 1 15/16 in. x 1 in. ( 11.9 cm x 5 cm x 2.6 cm )

Credit Line
Presented in memory of Rosalie Eisenberg

Label copy
March 28, 2009
These small sculptures are evidence of an ingenious response to the growing middle-class demand for religious imagery during the later Middle Ages. These figures, accompanied by other mourners and soldiers, would have formed a Crucifixion scene in a small domestic altarpiece. They were carved from humble bone rather than exotic and expensive ivory by artists in the Venetian workshop of Baldassare degli Embriachi, who was probably more entrepreneur than artist. By employing prefabricated, modular components and inexpensive materials, the Embriachi workshop could mass-produce altarpieces—along with caskets, mirror backs, and combs—at affordable prices for a wider, less affluent clientele.

Subject matter
This diminutive sculpture of St. John the Evangelist in mourning together with its companion piece depicting the Virgin Mary (1976/2.102) once formed part of a Crucifixion scene in a small portable altarpiece. The partition of the larger scene into a number of smaller components, each with a few standing figures confined within a narrow vertical format, was dictated by the shape and small size of the bones on which these images were carved. The availability of bone made these products less expensive than comparable works in ivory, an economic advantage that contributed to the success of the large Venetian Embriachi workshop, which manufactured numerous altarpieces, mirror cases, and small boxes during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century.

Physical Description
This carved bone sculpture depicts John the Evangelist in profile with his hands held before him, bowing his head in mourning. A male figure wearing a knee-length robe stands on the right and holds a club in his left hand. A second male figure appears behind the saint in a similar pose of grief.

Primary Object Classification
Sculpture

Primary Object Type
altarpiece

Additional Object Classification(s)
Sculpture

Collection Area
Western

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Christianity
altarpieces
bone (material)
carvings (visual works)
mourners

7 Related Resources

Before 1492
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Early Modern European Objects
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Grief and Mourning Rituals
(Part of 5 Learning Collections)
Lives of Christian Saints
(Part of 6 Learning Collections)
Religious Life in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
The Divine Comedy
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted

On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ AMH, 1st floor ➜ 102 (Richard and Rosann Noel Gallery)