£13,000 is needed in under two weeks for the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge to acquire a realistic painted wood bust of the Mater Dolorosa (Virgin of Sorrows) by Pedro de Mena (1628-1688) with glass eyes and teardrops and eyelashes made from human hair.
Members of the public can donate online at
https://www.justgiving.com/pedrodemena/.
Mesmerisingly beautiful, the Virgin of Sorrows’ gently furrowed brows and natural flesh tones still elicit a powerful response from the viewer 350 years after it was made. It was most likely created for the private chapel, study or bedchamber of a devout patron, and would almost certainly have been protected under a glass dome and originally paired with a similarly-sized bust of the Ecce Homo (Christ as the Man of Sorrows).
Currently on show at the Fitzwilliam, the Museum has already raised £30,000 from the Art Fund and £10,000 from The Henry Moore Foundation. £71,203 has been raised in the public appeal, but the full £85,000 needed must be acquired by 28 September 2014 in order to secure the remarkable bust.
The beauty and importance of Spanish devotional art was highlighted in the National Gallery’s The Sacred Made Real exhibition in 2009, but the more emotive Catholic works, exemplified by painted wood sculpture are still extremely rare in British collections. Taste and religion played their part in this and most of de Mena’s sculptures remain in the churches, monasteries and convents for which they were made.
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