Saint Barbara, ca. 1490
German; probably made in Strasbourg, Alsace, present-day France
Lindenwood with paint; Overall: 50in. (127cm) Overall: 63 lb. (28576.6 g)
The Cloisters Collection, 1955 (55.166)
See the Collection Database to learn more about this work of art.
This limewood figure of Saint Barbara, which retains much of its original paint, holds an open book rather than a tower. The sculpture can be associated with the figures of three other saints, now dispersed, that once flanked the Virgin and Child in a large altarpiece from the church of Saint Mauritius in Kippenheim, in the Upper Rhine Valley.