Mourning Virgin

This Mourning Virgin, beautifully carved in one piece of ivory, would have once been part of a Crucifixion group that would have included a Christ on a cross, with St John, the Virgin, and possibly other figures at the feet of the cross. Designed for a frontal viewpoint, the Virgin Mary stands in contrapposto, left knee bent, the toe of her right shoe emerging from beneath the folds of her robe. She is represented with her hands clasped in prayer, gazing towards heaven or towards her son on the Cross, her lips slightly parted in sorrow. She wears a veil tied loosely just below her neck, the sweeping folds of her overmantel serving as a second head covering and gently blown by the wind.