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German or Netherlandish 15th Century

Pietà, c. 1450/1500

Not on View

Medium

alabaster

Dimensions

overall: 29.9 x 36.2 x 5.8 cm (11 3/4 x 14 1/4 x 2 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth

Accession Number

1942.11.2

Artists / Makers

German 15th Century (sculptor)

Netherlandish 15th Century (sculptor)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Marks and Labels

"22.5" in ink on proper right at back of Mary's bench

Provenance

Reportedly Lichtenthal Abbey, Baden-Baden.[1] (J. and S. Goldschmidt, Frankfurt-am-Main);[2] Ralph Harman [1873-1931] and Mary Batterman [d. 1951] Booth, Grosse Point, Michigan, by 1923;[3] gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Lichtenthal as the source is first mentioned by Mary Batterman Booth in a letter to John Walker, undated but with material from late 1942, in NGA curatorial files. On that Cistercian convent in Baden-Baden, see Emil Lacroix et al., Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Baden-Baden (Karlsruhe, 1942), 406-522; Sr. M. Pia Schindele, "Die Abtei Lichtenthal; ihr Verhaltnis zum Cistercienserorden, zu Päpsten und Bischöfen und zum badischen Landesherrn im Laufe der Jahrehunderte," Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv 104 (1984), 19-166, and 105 (1985), 67-248. Sister Schindele, archivist of Lichtenthal, who provided these references, reported that the church and convent were supplied with works of art beginning in the late fifteenth century by two noble abbesses, Margaretha von Baden [1477-1496] and Maria von Baden [1496-1519], and that financial difficulties forced the sale of some works of art around the beginning of this century (letter to Alison Luchs, 26 February 1986, in NGA curatorial files).

[2] Mary Batterman Booth to John Walker, undated but with material from late 1942, in NGA curatorial files.

[3] Theodor Demmler, "German Gothic Sculpture in the Ralph N.[sic] Booth Collection, Detroit," Art in America 11 (June 1923), 165-170, fig. 2.

Associated Names

Booth, Ralph Harman and Mary Batterman
Booth, Ralph Harman, Mrs.
Goldschmidt, J. and S.
Lichtenthal Abbey

Exhibition History

1923: Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1923, no cat.

1926: The Third Loan Exhibition of Old Masters, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1926, no. 84, as middle Rhenish, about 1450.

Bibliography

1923: Demmler, Theodor. "German Gothic Sculpture in the Ralph N. [sic] Booth Collection, Detroit." Art in America 11 (June 1923): 165-170, especially 166-169, fig. 2.

1923: Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 4 (1923): 50.

1926: The Third Loan Exhibition of Old Masters (Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition from Detroit Private Collections). Exh. cat. The Detroit Institiute of Arts, 1926: no. 84.

1942: "National Gallery Gets 3 Sculptures." New York Times 6 December 1942.

1948: Recent Additions to the Ralph and Mary Booth Collection. Washington, 1948: unpaginated, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 165.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 145, repro.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 159, as Franco-Flemish.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 97, repro.