Pietà
1460
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1460
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Pietà is a 1460 by Unknown, a Renaissance work, depicting Lamentation of Christ, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A young Mary cradles Jesus after the crucifixion. His pale body is marked with blood, and the cross behind them shows nails and a spear. This was made for people who couldn’t read. The image is simple but full of feeling—Mary’s face is calm, even though her son is dead. The colors are soft, almost like a coloring book, to help people focus on the story. Look up other works from southern germany, swabia, 15th century to see more like it.
Early woodcuts usually illustrate religious subjects for the spiritual edification and contemplative meditation of a mostly illiterate public. Produced by anonymous craftsmen, these simple, direct images facilitated an intimate dialogue between the individual and the holy figure depicted. Here, a youthful Virgin Mary delicately embraces her dead son’s body, with its hand-colored flesh and drops of blood. Behind her, the wooden cross displays the Instruments of the Passion of Christ: two nails, the crown of thorns, and two scourges. By stressing the humanity of Mary’s grief over her son’s…
In this single-leaf woodcut, Mary’s left hand engages her headscarf in a gesture known as the tuchlein-geste , an act anticipating the wiping away of tears.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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