Three holy Women at the Tomb

Narrator:

Weeping women – the tradition of having additional women tasked with weeping, present at funerals – goes back to Greek Orthodox funeral rituals.

The practice is still in use in some places, and similar traditions exist in many cultures around the world to this day.

 

The holy three women at the tomb refer to the three Mary’s – Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleofas and Mary Salome – who, according to the Gospel of Mark, came to the tomb on Easter morning to anoint Jesus' body and found the tomb empty.

 

In this sculpture from 1896, the weeping women at the grave represent the embodiment of grief that you can almost feel when you see them.

 

Georg Minne was a Belgian sculptor who often depicted people's inner conflicts and emotions in his works.

 

This sculpture is inspired by Gothic and medieval imagery, but the form itself has the clarity of modernism.

 

Minne has taken a motif that was often depicted in Gothic art, and used material for sculptures in more recent art.

For example, this sculpture is made of bronze while Gothic and medieval sculptures with religious motifs were often made of wood...

 

Minne brought the fascination for Gothic depictions and motifs together into a modern work.