The Mourners of Dijon (

pleurants Pleurants or weepers (the English meaning of ''pleurants'') are anonymous sculpted figures representing mourners, used to decorate elaborate tomb monuments, mostly in the late Middle Ages in Western Europe. Typically they are relatively small, ...

of Dijon) are tomb sculptures made in Burgundy during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. They are part of a new iconographical tradition led by

Claus Sluter Claus Sluter (1340s in Haarlem – 1405 or 1406 in Dijon) was a Dutch sculptor, living in the Duchy of Burgundy from about 1380. He was the most important northern European sculptor of his age and is considered a pioneer of the "northern reali ...

that continued until the end of the fifteenth century. In this tradition, free-standing sculptures depict mourners who stand next to a bier or platform that holds a body in state. The figures are cloaked in robes which mostly hide their faces. The Dutch historian

Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two y ...

described the tomb as the "most profound expression of mourning known in art, a funeral march in stone."Johnson, Ken.
At the Met, Portraits of Grief, Written in Stone
. ''New York Times'', 12 May 2010 The pleurants were commissioned to resemble those in the

tomb of Philip the Bold The Tomb of Philip the Bold is a funerary monument commissioned in 1378 by the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Bold (d. 1404) for his burial at the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery he built on the outskirts of Dijon, in today's Fran ...

Description

The mourners stand sixteen inches high and originally occupied niches around the tombs of

Philip the Bold Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and ''jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg. Philip II w ...

(1342-1404), the first Duke of Burgundy, his son,

John the Fearless John I (french: Jean sans Peur; nl, Jan zonder Vrees; 28 May 137110 September 1419) was a scion of the French royal family who ruled the Burgundian State from 1404 until his death in 1419. He played a key role in French national affairs durin ...

(1371-1419), the second Duke of Burgundy, and John's wife,

Margaret of Bavaria Margaret of Bavaria (1363 – 23 January 1424, Dijon) was Duchess of Burgundy by marriage to John the Fearless. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low Countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy ...

(1363-1423). The original location was

Champmol The Chartreuse de Champmol, formally the ''Chartreuse de la Sainte-Trinité de Champmol'', was a Carthusian monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, which is now in France, but in the 15th century was the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. The monast ...

, the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...

monastery in Dijon. The sculptures are now in the

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is a museum of fine arts opened in 1787 in Dijon, France. It is one of the main and oldest museums of France. It is located in the historic city centre of Dijon and housed in the former ducal palace which was ...

. Journalist Fernand Auberjonois describes them this way: "Each mourner is a perfect example of medieval statuary. There are priests, monks, members of the ducal household, choirboys -- all demonstrating their grief and pain most eloquently, some with eyes turned toward the heavens, others wiping their tears on their sleeves ... ."Auberjonois, Fernand, (1958, September). The Missing Mourners of Dijon. ''Horizon'', 62-63. Some of the mourners are enveloped entirely in drapery, a specialty of Sluter who "transformed Gothic drapery conventions into a highly personal means of expression." The tomb originally contained 82 mourners, but after it was dismantled during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

in 1794, over a dozen of the mourners went missing. Some ended up in Dijon homes, others were marketed to museums and private collectors. In 1819, the architect Claude Saintpere restored the tombs and replaced some of the sculptures. In 1945, Englishman Percy Moore-Turner returned a choirboy sculpture to Dijon. Soon after, the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

donated its mourner and the Cluny Museum returned two mourners, one of which was a monk that had been owned by the Duke of Hamilton. American collector

Clarence Mackay Clarence Hungerford Mackay (; April 17, 1874 – November 12, 1938) was an American financier. He was chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company. Early life He ...

bought four mourners from French collectors who had purchased them from a shop in Nancy, France. When Mackay died, his estate sold the sculptures to the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, where they remain today. In 1959, Sherman Lee, Director of the Cleveland Museum, gave replicas of that museum's mourners to the Dijon Museum. Two of the niches remain empty and it is presumed those sculptures were destroyed during the French Revolution.Fauber, Fernand (byline used by Fernand Auberjonois) (1959, November 6). Replicas of Missing Mourners Presented to Dijon Museum. The Toledo Blade, p. A1. Thirty-nine of the sculptures were shown at seven American museums during a 2010-2012 tour organized by the

French Regional & American Museums Exchange French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

Attribution

The sculptures on the

(completed in 1410) are probably the work of

, Hannequin de Prindale and

Claus de Werve Claus or Claux de Werve ( 1380–1439) was a sculptor active at the Burgundian court under Philip the Bold between 1395 and 1439. He was probably born in the Dutch city of Haarlem around 1380. In 1396 he became the assistant to his uncle, Cla ...

. The pleurants on the tombs of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria are considered imitations of those on the tomb of Philip the Bold. Juan de la Huerta began these in 1443 and

Antoine Le Moiturier Antoine Le Moiturier (1425–1495) was a French sculptor. He was born in Avignon into a family of sculptors. His uncle was the itinerant French master Jacques Morel (artist), Jacques Morel. Following from the work of Jean de la Huerta beginni ...

completed them by 1470. File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 54.JPG, Mourner 54 File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 55.JPG, Mourner 55 File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 56.JPG, Mourner 56 File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 73.JPG, Mourner 73 File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 78.JPG, Mourner 78 File:Pleurant, tombeau de Jean sans Peur, 80.JPG, Mourner 80

References

Sources

* Antoine, Elisabeth. ''Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, 1364-1419''. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, 2005. * Hofstatter, Hans H. ''Art of the Late Middle Ages''. Harry N. Abrams, 1968 * Jugie, Sophie. ''The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010 * Nash, Susie. ''Northern Renaissance art''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. * Moffitt, John F. "Sluter's 'Pleurants' and Timanthes' 'Tristitia Velata': Evolution of, and Sources for a Humanist Topos of Mourning". ''Artibus et Historiae'', vol. 26, no. 51, 2005. * Panofsky, Irvin. ''Tomb Sculpture''. London: Harry Abrams, 1964. * Sadler, Donna. ''Stone, Flesh, Spirit: The Entombment of Christ in Late Medieval Burgundy''. Brill, 2015. {{refend

External links

The Mourners

Toledo Blade

Dijon 14th-century sculptures 15th-century sculptures Funerary art