Isabella's weepers

It was the best part of a century before the true significance of ten medieval statuettes in the Rijksmuseum’s collection was realized. The bronze noblemen and noblewomen, it became clear, had once stood on the tomb of Isabella van Bourbon, erected in Antwerp in 1476. Isabella was the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and this fact makes the statues very special. They are among the rare surviving relics of the opulent Burgundian court culture, and their varied attire means that they also provide a fascinating record of 15th-century court fashions. They represent a typical Burgundian aspect of medieval funeral art in Europe: the placing of ‘weeper’- mourning figures – around the tombs of prominent people. Originally this was an expression of grief and mourning, later it became a kind of visualized family tree emphasizing noble descent and dynastic pride. This Dossier examines the background to this practice and looks in detail at the ten weepers from Isabella’s