Mater Dolorosa

1870

While walking on the street one day in Paris, Carpeaux encountered one of his former models weeping over the loss of her child. Deeply moved, he took the woman to his studio, where he recorded her emotion in an expressive clay bust. He later made several versions in bronze, but this is the only one in marble. The title Mater Dolorosa (Sorrowful Mother) was traditionally used to describe the Virgin Mary mourning Jesus’s death. Carpeaux, however, probably intended to convey a sense of universal suffering rather than to reference a specifically religious subject.

Medium	Carrara marble
Dimensions	27 9/16 x 13 3/8 x 19 5/16 in. (70 x 34 x 49 cm)
Object Number	2007.1
Acquisition	Acquired by the Clark, 2007
Status	On View