The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Mourner from the Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria

Mourner from the Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria

1443–45
(Spanish, active Burgundy, 1431–62)
Spanish, Burgundy, Dijon, 15th century
salins alabaster
Overall: 41 x 20.3 x 12.4 cm (16 1/8 x 8 x 4 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1940.129
Location: 109 Gothic Painting and Sculpture

Did You Know?

A plaster cast of this mourner adorns the Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria in Dijon, France.

Description

This monk-like figure has a variously textured monochrome surface. Alabaster’s softness made it easy to carve details like the fabric and fur of the mourner’s robe and the codex pages in his hand. This is one of 40 mourners from an elaborate funeral procession beneath an intricately carved alabaster arcade.

This mourner comes from the monastery of Champmol near Dijon, which became a primary burial place for Burgundian dukes. The sculpture was part of the tomb of John the Fearless (1371–1419), commissioned by his son Philip the Good (1396–1467), modeled after the earlier monument for Philip the Bold.
  • M. M. Hocquart, Dijon, France
    1825-1875
    Vicomte Edouard de Broissia & son, Georges (d. 1875), Dijon, France
    1876
    (M. Legay, Nancy, sold to Charles Stein)
    (Charles Stein, Paris, France)
    Baron Arthur de Schickler, Paris, France
    Count de Pourtales, Paris, France
    1919
    (Duveen Bros., Paris, France)
    by 1922-1939
    Clarence Mackay (d. 1939), New York, NY
    ?-1940
    (Jacques Seligmann, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1940-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Musée des beaux-arts, Dijon mba-collections.dijon.fr
    Michault, Jean-Bernard. Explication des desseins des tombeaux des ducs de Bourgogne qui sont à la Chartreuse de Dijon: présentez à S.A.S. Mgr le Duc, le 1. mai 1736, par le Sr J.P. Gilquin. Nuys: Impr. de A. Migneret, 1736.
    Drouot, Henri. Le nombre des "pleurants" aux tombeaux des Dues de Bourgogne. Paris: H. Champion, 1911. t. LXI, LIV, 135-141
    Drouot, Henri "De quelques dessins du XVIIIe siècle représentant les tombeaux des ducs de Bourgogne,"Revue de l'Art Chrétien, t. 64 LVII année (1914). pp. 113-118
    Drouot, Henri "L'atelier de Dijon et l'exécution du tombeau de Philippe le Hardi," Revue Belge d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art II (January 1932). pp. 11-50
    Troescher, Georg. Claus Sluter und die burgundische Plastik um die Wende des XIV. Jahrhunderts. Freiburg im Breisgau: Urban, 1932. p. 137
    Andrieu, E. "Les tombeaux des ducs de Bourgogne au Musée de Dijon," Bulletin Monumental, XC (1933). pp. 171-193
    Andrieu, E. "La personnalité des pleurants du tombeau de Philippe le Hardi," Revue Belge d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art, V (July-September 1935). pp. 221-230
    Roggen, D. "De Plorants van Klaas SLuter te Dijon," Gentsche bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis en de oudheidkunde, II (1935). pp. 127-173, afb. 19, 22, 43, 47
    Liebreich, Aenne. Claus Sluter. Bruxelles: Dietrich & cie, 1936. p.193, pl. XXXVII, fig 2
    Troescher, Georg. Die burgundische Plastik des ausgehenden Mittelalters und ihre Wirkungen auf die europäische Kunst. Frankfurt am Main: Prestel-Verlag, 1940. pl. LIX
    Milliken, William M. "Two Pleurants from the Tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 27, no. 8 (1940). pp. 119-21 www.jstor.org
    Beaulieu, Michèle. 1949. "Deux pleurants de Jaume Cascalls provenant des sépultures royales de Poblet: Musée du Louvre". Musées De France. 96-98. no. Iv
    Musée des beaux-arts de Dijon. Chefs-d'œuvre de la sculpture Bourguignonne du XIVe au XVIe siècle. [Dijon]: Musée de Dijon, 1949. p. 35A, no. 18
    David, Henri. Claus Sluter. Paris: P. Tisné, 1951. pl. 48
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 181 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 74 archive.org
    Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 304-305; cat.no. VIII-6 archive.org
    Plancher, Urbain. Histoire generale et particuliere de Bourgogne, avec des notes, des dissertations et les preuves justificatives. Dijon: A. de Fay, 1968. t. II , t. III
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 74 archive.org
    Les pleurants dans l'art du moyen-age en europe: 2e ed. rev.et compl. Dijon: Musee des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, 1971. pl. 67
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 84 archive.org
    De Winter, Patrick M. "Art from the Duchy of Burgundy." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 10 (1987). pp. 411-424 www.jstor.org
    Penny, Nicholas. The Materials of Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. p. 65, plate 61
    Fliegel, Stephen N., Sophie Jugie, and Virginie Barthélémy. Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless 1364-1419 : Musée Des Beaux-Arts De Dijon, May 28-September 15, 2004, the Cleveland Museum of Art, October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005. [Dijon]: Musée des beaux-arts, 2004. Cat. no. 94, p. 255, no. 67
    Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. p. 192-3, no. 69
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. pp. 206-7
    Baron, Françoise, Sophie Jugie, and Benoît Lafay. Les tombeaux des ducs de Bourgogne: création, destruction, restauration. Paris: Somogy, 2009. pp. 88, 90, Fig. 61. Pg. 137, Cat. 17
    Jugie, Sophie. The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy. Dallas [Tex.]: FRAME/French/Regional/American Museum Exchange, 2010. no. 67
    Rosenwein, Barbara H. Generations of Feeling: A History of Emotions, 600-1700. Cambridge,United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Mentioned: p. 188-189; Reproduced: p. 188, plate 6.2
    Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, et. al. Le Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Un Don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner. Gent : Snoeck, 2017. Mentioned: p,. 118 & 459, n. 1256
    Salmon, Dimitri. "A Propos du Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Nouveautes et Hypotheses." In Le Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: un don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner, 40-215. [Gent]: Snoeck, 2017. Mentioned: p. 118, note 1256
    Reeves, Matthew, Etienne Bobillet, and Paul de Mosselmann. Pleurants: Alabaster Mourners for the Tomb Monument of Jean De Berry (1340-1416). [Veurne] : Hannibal Books, 2022. Reproduced: p. 62
  • Riemenschneider and Late Medieval Alabaster. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 23, 2023).
    The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (March 1-May 23, 2010); Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (June 20-September 12, 2010); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (organizer) (October 3, 2010-January 2, 2011); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (January 23-April 17, 2011).
    Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Dukes and Angels: Art from the Court of Burgundy (1364-1419). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, Dijon, France (May 27-September 15, 2004); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005).
    Les Pleurant dans la Sculpture du Moyen Age en Europe, Musée de Dijon, Palais des États de Bourgoge, France (July 3-September 12, 1971).
    The Scholar in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (April 19-28, 1968).
    Treasures of Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1966-January 29, 1967).
    Deux Pleurants de Jaume Cascalle Provenant des Sepultures Royales de Poblet, Musées de France, Paris (May, 1949).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=Mourner from the Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria|url=false|author=Jean de la Huerta|year=1443–45|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.129