Bishop

15th century Bishop Polychrome wood, Height 70 cm This wooden sculpture depicts a bishop seated on a throne. The compact composition and small size suggest it was placed inside a tabernacle or a wooden altarpiece above an altar. The finely descriptive carving in the face and in the rigid drapery, softened by the curved folds between the arms, the seated pose reminiscent of Madonnas seated on the throne, and the features that express a solemn and intense expression recall sculptures made between Marche, Umbria, and Abruzzo between the end of the medieval era and the Renaissance. In the 15th century, this type of religious sculpture was widespread in the workshops of central Italy, both for single works and for statues used to accompany much more complex wooden structures such as choirs, altarpieces, pulpits, or lecterns of churches that could be decorated with more complex details. The back is painted and slightly sculpted but mostly flat, and it is equipped with a hole useful for grafting the statuette onto a larger piece of furniture, furnishing, or architecture.