Virgin Mary

The Master of Rimini is the provisional name of a sculptor from the southern Netherlands who is the author of a multi-figural altar of the Crucifixion, once in the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Rimini and now in the Städische Skulpturen-galerie in Frankfurt. Works attributed to him are stylistically connected to the painting of contemporary southern Dutch masters. There are certain similarities in the hands and the high artistic quality, the soft, gradually hardened draperies, and the slightly naturalistic rendering of faces. Alabaster statuettes by the Master of Rimini were exported to various parts of Europe as early as the fifteenth century, especially to north-eastern Italy. Many, mainly obtained by purchase, can be seen today in various foremost European museums. The National Museum of Slovenia purchased two statuettes by the Master of Rimini from a passionate collector, Baron Ludvik Haertl of Turn Castle near Velenje, in 1928. One is of Mary and the other of St John the Evangelist. The statuettes, which were described at the time by one of the most prominent Slovenian art historians, France Stele, as 'exquisite works of the rich Gothic style', are thought to have come from a manor house in the vicinity of Moravče. The then director of the National Museum, Dr Josip Mal, believed that the statuettes were 'works of art by foreign authors that had long been artistic possessions on Slovene territory' and, as such, undoubtedly enrich the national cultural and historical patrimony.