Man Kneeling in Prayer

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Wood sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Cabinet

Inventory

PV 07291 bis

Material and technique

Sculpted and carved tilia wood

Author

German School (Middle Rhine)

Dating

Late 15th century

Dimensions

28.8 x 12 x 15 cm.

Origin

Tower-Wurts Collection (1933)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

The Wurts inventory number (W 98 bis) suggests that in the early 20th century, this piece ‘travelled’ together with that identified as W 98, or PV 7291 in the Palazzo Venezia inventory. It depicts the Resurrection of Lazarus, believed by Santangelo (1954) to have been executed by a sculptor from the Rhine region, probably Mainz, at the end of the 15th century. The work is small, showing a kneeling man with his hands in prayer; it is perhaps an image of the donor, or that of an observer watching the miracle, as often happened in traditional depictions of the subject, so as to increase the veracity of the scene. It is difficult to known the original arrangement of the two pieces (whose proportions are not compatible with each other), even though it seems plausible that the man was seen in profile on the left, looking at Christ. Technical-scientific analysis carried out in 2009 by the IVALSA-CNR in Florence identified the wood used as tilia. (Tilia sp.).

Grazia Maria Fachechi 

Bibliography

Unpublished