15th century, Bishop 

fifteenth century

Bishop

Polychrome wood, 70 cm high

This wooden sculpture depicts a bishop seated on a throne. The small, compact composition suggests that it was placed inside a tabernacle or a wooden altarpiece placed above an altar. The finely descriptive carving on the face and the rigid but softened drapery by the curved folds between the two arms, the seated pose reminiscent of Madonnas seated on a throne, and the features that express a solemn and intense expression recall the sculptures made between the Marches, Umbria, and Abruzzo between the end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In the 15th century, this type of sculpture with a religious background was very widespread in the workshops of central Italy, both for single works and for statues used to complement much more complex wooden structures such as choir stalls, altarpieces, pulpits, or lecterns in churches that could be decorated with more complex details. The back is painted and lightly sculpted but mostly flat, and has a hole useful for attaching the statuette to a piece of furniture, decor or larger architecture.