Pietà

Unidentified artist

about 1375–90

Object PlaceGermany

Medium/TechniqueWood; lindenwood with polychromy

Dimensions88.9 x 34.9 x 24.8 cm (35 x 13 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.)

Credit LineBequest of Dr. Siegfried J. Thannhauser in memory of his wife Franziska Peiner Thannhauser

Accession number63.590

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsSculpture

Collections

Europe

ProvenanceSaid to come from Glottertal (near Freiburg), Germany. Before 1935, sold by Professor Geiges (probably Fritz Geiges, b. 1853 - d. 1935), Freiburg to Dr. Siegfried Josef Thannhauser (b. 1885 - d. 1962), Freiburg, Düsseldorf, and Brookline, MA [see note 1]; 1963, bequest of Siegfried J. Thannhauser to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 8, 1963)

NOTES:
[1] Dr. Thannhauser immigrated to the Boston area in 1935, bringing his art collection with him. According to Edward R. Lubin's appraisal of his collection (February 14, 1962), this sculpture (referred to as the "Glottertaler Madonna") was purchased from Professor Geiges in Freiburg, and came from "the chapel in Glottertal". It was included in the exhibition "Arts of the Middle Ages" (MFA, Boston, February 17 - March 20, 1940), cat. no. 194.