The Mourners

November 25, 2010 7:21 PM

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy provides fully-rotatable images of the pleurants (mourners or "weepers") from the tomb of Jean sans Peur ("John the Fearless"), sculpted by Juan de la Huerta and Antoine le Moiturier. The site also allows you to rotate the full tomb. This tomb was conceived in the style of the one designed for Philippe le Hardi ("Philip the Bold"), designed and begun by Jean de Marville, with pleurants executed by Claus Sluter (probably) and his nephew, Claus de Werve. For a brief overview of support for the arts at the Court of Burgundy, see the Met.
posted by thomas j wise (8 comments total)

Nice site and nice post - a thoughtful example of digitization. Thanks, thomas!
posted by carter at 7:28 PM on November 25, 2010

I was lucky enough to see those statues while they were at the Met. What struck me most was the scale. They're much smaller than I expected in person (and I'd seen them on both the first web site linked and the Met's website prior to my visit), but very powerful. I'd add that the lighting on these sculptures at the Met was amazing and quite a feat since they were in the middle of the large medieval gallery.
posted by kaybdc at 8:50 PM on November 25, 2010

If you're in North Texas the exhibit is at the Dallas Art Museum right now. As the local NPR station has helpfully informed me at least twice an hour every hour for the past couple of few months.
posted by kmz at 8:56 PM on November 25, 2010

Fantastic. I'm glad the age of epithets is over though, as future visitors to my tomb would be wondering who 'Jim the Gobshite' was.
posted by Abiezer at 8:57 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

We're planning to see this while we're in Dallas over Christmas. I'm very excited about the exhibit and delighted to get to preview it with this link.
posted by immlass at 9:20 PM on November 25, 2010

Wow. The way the folds in the garments have been cut out of stone is amazing. That does come out much better by way of the 360 degrees rotation.
Unbelievable that these frail statues have survived intact for 5 centuries.
posted by joost de vries at 9:28 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

They must all be ultimately mourning for the fate of lost Burgundy, the county and country that disappeared off the face of the Earth thanks to the lack of a male heir.
posted by Apocryphon at 3:43 PM on November 27, 2010

We finally saw this exhibit in Dallas yesterday. The sculptures are fantastic to look at in person, although both my husband and I wanted to see some kind of model of the tomb so we could get a better idea of context as well as just being able to see the detail level of each mourner. If you go, be sure to watch the film, which gives you the best shot at that context.

If you're in the Dallas area and considering going, hurry, because it closes in two weeks.
posted by immlass at 9:44 AM on December 25, 2010