Description
Coimbra, Attributed to Master Pero, Ca. 1325. Polychrome limestone
This set belonged to separate altars located in the retrochoir, where they remained until the middle of the 19th century when the Virgin was replaced by that of the Annunciation of the guild of weavers. Some time later, they were reunited in the Cathedral Museum, where they are currently exhibited.
It is an iconographic type particularly developed at the time thanks to the Coimbra workshops. There are many theories regarding its arrival at the cathedral, including the one that relates it to the group of offerings made in 1325 by Saint Elizabeth of Portugal on her first pilgrimage to Compostela after her husband’s death. Even a study affirms that the image of Mary would be a portrait of the Rainha Santa.