The Man of Sorrows

Not only painters but also many sculptors often used the ‘modello’. Many of these are studies in terracotta. The Pieta we see here was probably by an apprentice of the sculptor and architect Lucas Faydherbe of Malines, who himself worked as an apprentice sculptor in the studio of Peter Paul Rubens, by whom he was greatly influenced. Faydherbe tried to…

Not only painters but also many sculptors often used the ‘modello’. Many of these are studies in terracotta. The Pieta we see here was probably by an apprentice of the sculptor and architect Lucas Faydherbe of Malines, who himself worked as an apprentice sculptor in the studio of Peter Paul Rubens, by whom he was greatly influenced. Faydherbe tried to express the broad flourishes and pictorial quality of Rubens’ work in his own dynamic sculptures. We also see this in this terracotta relief. The fine modelling and simplicity of expression imbue the work with an elegant serenity.