The Virgin Mary, from a Crucifixion Group

This figure of Mary, at one time positioned at the foot of Christ’s cross, is wholly absorbed in grief. Her arms crossed before her, she stands with her averted head partly hidden by the cloth of her cloak, which is pulled up over her head. Her eyes are downcast. The relation of the body to the cloth is an interplay of taut contrasts, overlaps and deep recesses. The physical presence of the figure is astonishing; it seems altogether immersed in its spatial context, as if it were a real human being. A figure of St. John, now in the Stockholm National Museum, appears to have belonged to the same crucifixion group. The artist who crafted these two statues can truly be described as pioneering. His figural conception, as apparent in this statue, was highly influential and is echoed in the work of Niclaus Gerhaert von Leyden.