ABSTRACT
The Counter Reformation encouraged Catholic artists to emphasize the humanity, and therefore the emotions, of their religious subjects. The baroque Spanish sculptor Pedro de Mena produced this intensely naturalistic representation of the weeping Virgin (Mater Dolorosa), with painted flesh tones, glass eyes and tear-drops and real hair eyelashes to strengthen the pathos of this work. 1 Beyond saints and martyrs, the weeping virgin and the suffering Christ (Ecce Homo) became popular themes in seventeenth-century Catholic sculpture and art. The purpose of such an artwork was to aid religious devotion by helping the faithful focus on, and empathize with, the suffering of the Virgin Mary as she witnessed the suffering of Christ during the Passion and then mourned his death.
