She will have experienced the ups and downs of this little statuette before finding the tomb from which it had been uprooted more than 200 years ago. About forty centimeters tall, it had barely escaped destruction during the Revolution. Passed into the private sector in the 19th century, the play its long historical and judicial journey ends.
The alabaster statuette was part of a group of 82 weepers , representations of religious or family members, which medieval tradition used to install at the foot of the tombs of illustrious people. Sculpted in the 15th century, they wore eternal mourning in arches dug under the tombs of Philippe le Hardi, the first Duke of Burgundy, and his son and successor Jean sans Peur as well as his wife, Marguerite de Bavière.
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During the Revolution, the tombs were destroyed but the mourners were saved. After being dispersed, most are found at the beginning of the 19th century and reinstalled at the foot of reconstructions of "tombs" (in fact empty cenotaphs), which have since been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon. But weeping n ° 17, or Crying wiping his tears, had an even more turbulent history.
An exception among the "Mourners"
Each weeping is a masterpiece in its own right, rich in unique details. And weeping n ° 17 has his own expression of mourning: he pinches his nose.
Falling into the hands of private owners in 1813, it reappeared in 2014 when the latter asked for an authorization to leave the territory to be able to sell it, after having estimated it at 3 million euros. The heritage department tells them that the sculpture does not belong to them and demands its restitution. Then follows a long legal battle which will end with the victory of the State, in June 2018 and, finally, the return to Dijon.
"The assembly of this statuette is the result of the mobilization of the services of the Ministry of Culture in order to claim the State property right over cultural property in the public domain, held without legal basis by private persons" , s' is congratulated on Saturday in a statement the ministry. The statuette, first presented in a window, will be installed again at the foot of the tomb of Philippe le Hardi in a few weeks.
Considered jewels of medieval sculpture, the Weepers amazed many visitors. Stendhal found their expression "truly admirable" . And, in 2010, the forty or so statuettes which adorn the tomb of Jean sans Peur carried out for two years a world tour with great success, from New York to Los Angeles, Dallas or Berlin.
Today, the mourners find themselves united but seven are still missing: four are kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art (United States) and three remain missing.