Detail van de tombe van paus Clemens II in de dom van Bamberg c. 1900 - 1920

This is a detail of the tomb of Pope Clemens II in Bamberg Cathedral, made by an anonymous artist, and it shows a figure holding scales. The carving has this really interesting shallow depth; the figure sits proud of the background, but only just. It makes me think about the way a drawing sits on a page, or how a painting, no matter how illusionistic, is always just pigment sitting on a flat surface. Look at the folds of drapery on the figure's lap, they cascade down, becoming almost a field of abstract marks. The artist has captured the weight of the material, but also its inherent potential for pattern making. The justice figure almost becomes a formal device here, a study in composition. It makes me think of folks like Picasso, stripping back the world into planes and lines. This piece is from another time, but I feel like the concerns are the same. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions we ask along the way.