Austrian sculptor (active around 1430-1450 in Salzburg or Vienna) St Barbara Carved limewood, flattened and hollowed out at the back, old or original paint and gilding. The sculpture depicts St Barbara in a slight S-shape in the tradition of the Beautiful Madonnas. As a princess, she wears a crown on her head, which is tilted to her left. Her long robe falls to the ground, leaving only the tip of her right foot and hand free, while her left hand, wrapped in fabric, holds the tower as her specific saintly attribute. The pleating style is characterised by doughy, diagonal, V-shaped staircase and bowl pleats, but the pleats open out into angular folds towards the floor. The sculpture, with its body facing the viewer from the front and hollowed out at the back, probably originally served either as a sculpture for an altar or was placed in front of a wall on a console or in a niche. Stylistically, the depiction of the face and the robe show parallels to the sculpture of St Barbara on the Wiener Neustädter Altar (also known as the "Friedrichsaltar") created in 1447 in St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. H. 86 cm. Provenance: from an old Viennese private collection. Austrian sculptor active circa 1430-1450 in Salzburg or Vienna. Carved, painted and gilt limewood sculpture of Saint Barbara.