Marble sculpture of a veiled woman in meditation and prayer at Pere-Lachaise cemetery

A delicate marble sculpture depicting a veiled woman in an attitude of prayer and meditation. The figure, wrapped in a wide cloak covering her head, holds her hands clasped to her chest with her gaze turned downward in a sign of devotion and contained grief. This type of sculpture, called "pleureuse" or "mourner," was very common in 19th-century funerary art and represented female mourning in its most composed and spiritual form. The quality of the drapery and facial expression reveal the hand of a highly talented sculptor, capable of infusing life and feeling into cold marble.

Pere-Lachaise, sculpture, veiled woman, prayer, marble, mourner, funerary art