Plañidero. Jaume Cascalls (Berga, act. 1341-1378). Poblet, Catalonia, ca. 1350-1375.

JAUME CASCALLS (Berga, act. 1341-1378). Poblet, Catalonia, ca. 1350-1375.
"Plañidero".
Alabaster.
Provenance: Private collection, France. It has an export permit.
Measurements: 6 cm wide; 3,5 cm high.

This delicate sculptural fragment represents the head of a mourner, a characteristic figure of the Gothic funerary programs, intended to express the pain and solemnity associated with death. The piece is attributed to Jaume Cascalls, closely related to the great royal commissions of the Crown of Aragon.

Made in alabaster, the work stands out for the expressive intensity of the face. The half-closed eyes, the half-open mouth and the gesture of the hand resting on the cheek transmit a deep feeling of contained mourning, resolved with a naturalism characteristic of advanced Gothic.

This type of figure was part of monumental funerary ensembles, such as the royal tombs of the monastery of Poblet, where Cascalls worked for decades. In these sculptural programs, the mourners fulfilled both a decorative and symbolic function, reinforcing the emotional and spiritual dimension of the ensemble.

Jaume Cascalls was one of the main representatives of the Catalan school of Gothic sculpture. He maintained a close artistic relationship with the Bassa family -he was married to Maria, sister of the painter Arnau Bassa-, which led to a fruitful collaboration between sculpture and painting in court commissions. Among his first documented works is the white marble altarpiece of the Virgin Mary in Cornellà de Conflent (1345).

His activity was especially linked to the monastery of Poblet, where he worked from 1349 with the master Aloi de Montbrai on the royal tombs, a project that occupied much of his life. He also intervened in important complexes such as the Seo Vieja de Lérida -where he was appointed master builder-, the cathedral of Gerona, with the well-known sculpture of "Saint Charlemagne" (actually Peter the Ceremonious), and the cathedral of Tarragona.