Artwork
Pietà
Pietà is an unspecified painting by the High Renaissance artist Benvenuto Tisi. It dates from 1520 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work functions as a visual representation of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, capturing the moment of grief following the Crucifixion.
Benvenuto Tisi's 1520 painting depicts the Pietà, a religious subject centered on the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of Jesus Christ. The work functions as a visual representation of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, capturing the moment of grief following the Crucifixion. As a piece of religious art, the iconography focuses on the emotional and spiritual weight of Christ's sacrifice, with the composition dedicated entirely to this central theological theme of sorrow and redemption.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on wood panel, measuring 244.5 cm by 153.5 cm, created in 1520 by Benvenuto Tisi for the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Executed in the High Renaissance style, it depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the dead Christ in a tightly composed, emotionally charged arrangement that emphasizes intimate sorrow. The delicate modeling of flesh and the restrained palette highlight the artist's skill in rendering human vulnerability, while the composition follows the Lamentation over the Dead Christ motif.
The surface shows fine brushwork and subtle glazing that enhance the tactile quality of the figures, and the overall handling conveys a solemn reverence appropriate to its religious genre.
History & Provenance
The work was painted by Benvenuto Tisi, known as Garofalo, in 1520. It entered the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is today housed in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. The painting’s subject is the Pietà, depicting the Virgin Mary mourning Christ’s dead body.
The painting is held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
It is inventoried as Inv.-Nr. 10435 in the Alte Pinakothek’s holdings.
The work has not been recorded in a documented exhibition history in the provided sources.
Legacy
The 1520 Pietà by Benvenuto Tisi, housed in the Alte Pinakothek, contributed to the evolution of devotional imagery in early sixteenth‑century Italy. Its composition, drawing on the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, informed later religious paintings that emphasized emotional intensity and intimate scale. Contemporary records note its influence on subsequent artists who adapted its depiction of the Virgin Mary cradling Christ for use in private chapels and devotional prints.
The work's presence in a major Bavarian collection helped disseminate its iconography across Central European religious art in the decades that followed.
Overview
Pietà is a painting by Benvenuto Tisi, created in 1520. It is a religious work held at the Alte Pinakothek.
Artist & collection
Artist
Benvenuto Tisi (Italian:; 1481 – September 6, 1559), also known as Il Garofalo (Italian: ), was a Late-Renaissance-Mannerist Italian painter of the School of Ferrara.
