Mourner in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Pleurant
French (Rhône Valley), Medieval (Gothic), about 1475–1500
Unidentified artist, French, France

Dimensions: 23.2 x 12.2 x 11.1 cm (9 1/8 x 4 13/16 x 4 3/8 in.)

Medium or Technique: Stone; limestone with traces of yellow bole and polychromy

Classification: Sculpture
Type: figure

Accession Number: 67.764

This figure of a monk covers his face in grief, his heavy drapery conveying the weight of his sorrow. Large sculptures of mourners decorated tombs, creating a kind of perpetual funeral procession accompanying the effigy of the deceased. This small figure may also have been part of a tomb ensemble or, more likely, was a private, commemorative work.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/pleurant-58203