Cette sculpture de calcaire repr\u00e9sente une Vierge de Piti\u00e9 : apr\u00e8s la descente de la croix, Marie tient J\u00e9sus sur ses genoux et constate la mort de son enfant. Ce moment tr\u00e8s \u00e9mouvant ne se trouve pas dans la Bible mais est une repr\u00e9sentation d\u2019\u00e9crits apocryphes. Ces th\u00e8mes sensibles se propagent en Europe avec les moines et le mouvement de la Devotio moderna : un courant de pens\u00e9e qui appara\u00eet dans l\u2019aire germanique \u00e0 la fin du XIVe si\u00e8cle avant de se r\u00e9pandre en Europe. La volont\u00e9 premi\u00e8re de ce mouvement est de r\u00e9former la base de l\u2019\u00c9glise, que les fid\u00e8les puissent se r\u00e9approprier leur relation au Christ et \u00e0 Dieu en supprimant les interm\u00e9diaires. Via des textes et des oeuvres vari\u00e9s, on s\u2019insiste sur l\u2019humanit\u00e9 du Christ et des personnages saints pour faire d\u2019eux des mod\u00e8les de vie et de pi\u00e9t\u00e9 mais des mod\u00e8les accessibles. Ainsi la foi devient plus active et l\u2019Homme devient une source de son propre Salut : les exp\u00e9riences terrestres sont des occasions d\u2019imiter le Christ pendant sa propre vie sur Terre, d\u2019agir comme lui et ainsi m\u00e9riter le Salut.
C\u2019est \u00e9galement \u00e0 cette p\u00e9riode que se d\u00e9veloppe la d\u00e9votion \u00e0 la Vierge, notamment \u00e0 travers le th\u00e8me de la Vierge de Piti\u00e9 qui rencontre un grand succ\u00e8s pendant tout le XVe et XVIe si\u00e8cle, en Europe du Nord et en Italie. C\u2019est la douleur de la Vierge, la douleur d\u2019une m\u00e8re qui est pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e aux fid\u00e8les \u00e0 travers des oeuvres aux tailles vari\u00e9es.
En s\u2019adressant aux spectateurs, Marie invite \u00e0 la r\u00e9flexion et \u00e0 la m\u00e9ditation : : \u00ab Je m\u2019adresse \u00e0 vous, \u00e0 vous tous qui passez ici ! Regardez et voyez s\u2019il est une douleur pareille \u00e0 ma douleur, A celle dont j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 frapp\u00e9e ! L\u2019\u00c9ternel m\u2019a affil\u00e9e au jour de son ardente col\u00e8re. \u00bb (Lamentations 1 : 12). En fonctions des sources litt\u00e9raires, des p\u00e9riodes, des zones g\u00e9ographiques et des demandes des commanditaires ; les Vierges peuvent varier dans leur attitude : certaines se lamentent, pleurent, prient, se penchent sur le corps du Christ ou expriment une certaine acceptation. Notre Vierge se distingue par une grande dignit\u00e9 et une expression sereine face \u00e0 la mort de son fils : elle accepte le sacrifice de J\u00e9sus pour sauver l\u2019humanit\u00e9.
Notre Vierge de Piti\u00e9 est Champenoise. Nous pouvons le voir \u00e0 l\u2019allongement des membres du Christ ; \u00e0 l\u2019aspect juv\u00e9nile de Marie, son visage de jeune femme malgr\u00e9 son \u00e2ge m\u00fbr ; et l\u2019id\u00e9alisation des traits des personnages (les visages ovo\u00efdes, les yeux en amande, les traits fins, petit nez, front bomb\u00e9 pour les femmes), qui sont des \u00e9l\u00e9ments caract\u00e9ristiques de la sculpture de cette r\u00e9gion.
Le traitement des textiles est \u00e9galement un \u00e9l\u00e9ment reconnaissable de la sculpture champenoise. En effet, apr\u00e8s le Temps des Malheurs qui parcourt tout le XVe si\u00e8cle, la Champagne retrouve une situation politique, sociale et \u00e9conomique favorable. De cette p\u00e9riode riche qui commence, les bourgeois marchands tirent leur \u00e9pingle du jeu : les affaires prosp\u00e8rent dans les villes, notamment le milieu du textile qui se d\u00e9veloppe fortement. Voulant se donner des aires de noblesses, ces bourgeois ach\u00e8tent des terres, des titres, \u00e9pousent des femmes nobles et passent des commandes d\u2019art religieux tels de v\u00e9ritables m\u00e9c\u00e8nes. Il est donc normal que les personnages des oeuvres qu\u2019ils commandent soient richement v\u00eatus ; et que les habits soient travaill\u00e9s. Sur notre oeuvre, outre J\u00e9sus portant son traditionnel p\u00e9rizonium avec un remarquable travail fait sur les plis du tissu ; Marie porte une robe dor\u00e9e, un voile guimpe \u00e0 mentonni\u00e8re, et est drap\u00e9e d\u2019un long manteau bleu \u00e0 bordure dor\u00e9 et \u00e0 la doublure rouge. Le pan de ce long manteau est ramen\u00e9 sur le devant et lui recouvre les jambes. Notons la souplesse du drap\u00e9 et le rendu des plis du tissu lourd, qui refl\u00e8te l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat des Champenois (et des commanditaires) pour les v\u00eatements et l\u2019industrie du textile.
Autre \u00e9l\u00e9ment caract\u00e9ristique de cette sculpture : le mat\u00e9riel utilis\u00e9. C\u2019est un calcaire crayeux, typique de la Champagne m\u00e9ridionale, qui par sa facilit\u00e9 d\u2019extraction a permis le d\u00e9veloppement de la production de sculpture \u00e0 la fin du Moyen Age. D\u2019une certaine fragilit\u00e9, c\u2019est une pierre dont la tendret\u00e9 permet une pleine exploitation de l\u2019imaginaire et du talent des sculpteurs. Elle \u00e9tait donc tr\u00e8s appr\u00e9ci\u00e9e des artisans car facile \u00e0 trouver et \u00e0 travailler. Nous pouvons \u00e9galement voir sur l\u2019arri\u00e8re de la pi\u00e8ce, le syst\u00e8me d\u2019accroche en fer d\u2019origine. \u00c0 l\u2019excellent \u00e9tat de notre pi\u00e8ce s\u2019ajoute sa polychromie d\u2019origine encore bien visible, qui accentue l\u2019aspect \u00e9motionnel et solennel de cet ensemble.<\/p>\n
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This limestone sculpture represents a Virgin of Pity: after the descent from the cross, Mary holds Jesus on her lap and notes the death of her child This very moving moment is not found in the Bible but is a representation of apocryphal writings. These sensitive themes spread in Europe with the monks and the movement of the Devotio moderna: a current of thought that appears in the Germanic area at the end of the fourteenth century before spreading in Europe. The primary desire of this movement is to reform the base of the Church, so that the faithful can reappropriate their relationship to Christ and to God by eliminating the intermediaries. Through various texts and works, we insist on the humanity of Christ and the holy figures to make them models of life and piety but accessible models. Thus faith becomes more active and Man becomes a source of his own salvation: earthly experiences are opportunities to imitate Christ during his own life on Earth, to act like him and thus merit salvation.<\/span><\/em> \u2022\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>P\u00e9riode:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span>Circa 1500<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Origine :\u00a0<\/span><\/span>France, Champagne<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Mat\u00e9riaux :\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>Pierre calcaire, polychromie<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Dimensions :\u00a0<\/span><\/span>H : 29 cm ; L : 36 cm<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 \u00c9tat :\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Tr\u00e8s bel \u00e9tat<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n ________________________________<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em><\/span>Period:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span>Circa 1500<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Origin:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span>France, Champagne<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Materials:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span>Limestone, polychromy<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Dimensions:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span>H : 29 cm ; L: 36 cm<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Condition:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span>Very good condition<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14726,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[226],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14735","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-piatti","7":"description-off","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"product-type-simple"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=14735"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=14735"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=14735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
It was also during this period that devotion to the Virgin developed, notably through the theme of the Virgin of Pity, which met with great success throughout the 15th and 16th centuries in Northern Europe and Italy. It is the pain of the Virgin, the pain of a mother that is presented to the faithful through works of various sizes.<\/span><\/em>
Addressing the spectators, Mary invites them to reflect and meditate: \u201cI am addressing you, all of you who pass by here! Look and see if there is a pain like mine, like the one I was struck with! The LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.\u201d (Lamentations 1:12). Depending on the literary sources, the periods, the geographical areas and the demands of the commissioners, the Virgins can vary in their attitude: some lament, cry, pray, bend over the body of Christ or express a certain acceptance. Our Lady is distinguished by her great dignity and serene expression in the face of her son\u2019s death: she accepts Jesus\u2019 sacrifice to save humanity.<\/span><\/em>
Our Virgin of Mercy is from Champagne. We can see this in the elongation of Christ\u2019s limbs; in the youthful appearance of Mary, her young woman\u2019s face despite her mature age; and in the idealization of the characters\u2019 features (ovoid faces, almond-shaped eyes, fine features, small nose, rounded forehead for the women), which are characteristic elements of the sculpture of this region.<\/span><\/em>
The treatment of textiles is also a recognizable element of Champagne sculpture. Indeed, after the Time of Misfortune that runs through the 15th century, Champagne finds a favorable political, social and economic situation. From this rich period which begins, the bourgeois merchants draw their pin from the game: the businesses prosper in the cities, in particular the textile environment which develops strongly. Wanting to give themselves areas of nobility, these bourgeois buy lands, titles, marry noble women and place orders for religious art as true patrons. It is therefore normal that the characters of the works they commission are richly dressed; and that the clothes are worked. On our work, besides Jesus wearing his traditional perizonium with a remarkable work done on the folds of the fabric; Mary wears a golden dress, a guimpe veil with chin strap, and is draped with a long blue mantle with golden border and red lining. The flap of this long coat is brought back on the front and covers the legs. Note the suppleness of the drapery and the rendering of the folds of the heavy fabric, which reflects the interest of the Champenois (and their patrons) in clothing and the textile industry.<\/span><\/em>
Another characteristic element of this sculpture is the material used. It is a chalky limestone, typical of southern Champagne, which by its ease of extraction has allowed the development of sculpture production in the late Middle Ages. Of a certain fragility, it is a stone whose tenderness allows a full exploitation of the imagination and talent of sculptors. It was thus very appreciated by the craftsmen because it was easy to find and to work. We can also see on the back of the piece, the original iron hanging system. In addition to the excellent condition of our piece, its original polychromy is still clearly visible, which accentuates the emotional and solemn aspect of this set.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"