Lot Essay
Although the Pietà was to be adopted with enthusiasm in Italy by both sculptors and painters, and is known in English by its Italian name, its origins are northern. In the present example, the Virgin laments over the body of her dead Son, and lifts up an arm as if to emphasise its lifelessness. This central group is flanked by two supporters: to the left is Saint John the Evangelist, who cradles Christ's head, while to the right is Mary Magdalen, ointment jar in hand, ready to anoint His feet in death, as she once did in life. For examples with a similarly extended grouping, see Forsyth loc. cit..
The scale of the present group suggests that it must originally have been an altarpiece, in which setting the association between the Redeemer's body stretched out on the winding-sheet and the sacrament of the eucharist would have been tellingly apparent.
The scale of the present group suggests that it must originally have been an altarpiece, in which setting the association between the Redeemer's body stretched out on the winding-sheet and the sacrament of the eucharist would have been tellingly apparent.