# Mater Dolorosa (The Virgin Mary Mourning)

- By: Georges-Daniel de Monfreid (French, 1856–1929)
- Date: 1897
- Medium: painted plaster and wood
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 73.7 x 59.1 x 17.8 cm (29 x 23 1/4 x 7 in.)
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.54)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/2002.54/2002.54_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This fragment was once part of a larger sculpture carved in low relief, where sculpted elements are raised from a flat background. The full sculpture depicted Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary flanking Christ on the cross. This section is the only surviving portion of Georges-Daniel de Monfreid’s original composition. This work combines painting and sculpture and was described in De Monfreid’s lifetime as “a sculpture by a painter.” De Monfreid was a close friend of Paul Gauguin whose painting The Call (1943.392) also addressed the theme of spirituality in his work.