Pietà

Pakruojis district

Jonas Danauskas (1854–1937), who was born near Rozalimas, learned the craft of religious carving from his father Ksaveras. He became a skilled sculptor, and made accurate reproductions of religious art. One of his main activities was designing and making altars. His early sculptures are similar to folk art, but his later works are closer to those created by professionals.

This Pieta sculpture belongs to Danauskas’ early period: it is massive and frontal, and the folds of the drapery are divided into vertical strips. Although it is badly damaged, perhaps from being in an open roadside shrine for a long time, it has preserved the artist’s distinctive characteristics, with carefully carved, sorrowful, and at the same time lyrical and quiet, faces. The Pietas carved by Danauskas differ from those usually found in folk sculpture. He portrays Mary cradling Jesus on her lap or next to her, and there is little of the disproportion of the figures that is characteristic of sculptures by most religious carvers.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius (curators Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė)

Pakruojis district

Jonas Danauskas (1854–1937), who was born near Rozalimas, learned the craft of religious carving from his father Ksaveras. He became a skilled sculptor, and made accurate reproductions of religious art. One of his main activities was designing and making altars. His early sculptures are similar to folk art, but his later works are closer to those created by professionals.

This Pieta sculpture belongs to Danauskas’ early period: it is massive and frontal, and the folds of the drapery are divided into vertical strips. Although it is badly damaged, perhaps from being in an open roadside shrine for a long time, it has preserved the artist’s distinctive characteristics, with carefully carved, sorrowful, and at the same time lyrical and quiet, faces. The Pietas carved by Danauskas differ from those usually found in folk sculpture. He portrays Mary cradling Jesus on her lap or next to her, and there is little of the disproportion of the figures that is characteristic of sculptures by most religious carvers.

Text author Skaidrė Urbonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius (curators Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė)