What's On in Burgundy 2010?

The Mourners of the Tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy on Tour in the USA

• February 28-May 23, 2010 New York, Metropolitan Museum
• June 17-September 6, 2010 Saint Louis Art Museum
• October 3, 2010-January 2, 2011 Dallas Museum of Art
• January 23-April 17, 2011 Minneapolis Institute of Arts
• May 8-July 31, 2011 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• August 21-November 13, 2011 Richmond, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• December 11, 2011-March 4, 2012 Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

During the renovation of the tomb room, the Salle des Gardes, at the Musée de Beaux Arts in Dijon, the white alabaster figures, usually known as the ‘mourners’, around the tomb of John the Fearless will go on tour in the USA. The other mourners around the tomb of Philip the Bold will remain on view in Dijon.

Described as 'masterpieces in medieval sculpture', these figures form a funeral procession around the elaborate tombs. They are 40 cm tall (16 in.) and were completed around 1457 following the assassination of the duke. There are 39 in all depicting monks, family members, officials and servants, plus further mourners which are usually on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art and these will join the travelling exhibition.

The Dallas Museum of Art is organizing the tour along with the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts under the auspices of the French Regional & American Museum Exchange and it will be the first time that the figures have been outside of France.