Title: The
Artist: Enguerrand Charonton
Medium: Tempera on wood
Size: 162 x 218 cm
Date: c. 1460
Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris
The Pietà (Italian for pity), where the dead Christ is supported by his grieving mother, is one of the most common themes of late-medieval religious art. This example is one of the most striking depictions, and has been acclaimed as perhaps the greatest masterpiece produced in
The curved back form of Christ's body is highly original, and the stark, motionless dignity of the other figures might have been taken from Gothic sculpture. The suffering figure of the Virgin dominates the painting while Christ, a white cloth wrapped across his loins, appears to be floating on her lap. A young
Its concentrated emotion, dramatic force and religious content make this the supreme manifestation in mediaeval painting of the tragedy of Christ. The Virgin's sorrow is profound and austere, almost unbending; Magdalene's is softer, more womanly. With this work the master enriched French and European painting with one of the finest representations of the Pietà in existence.
Enguerrand Charonton or Quarton (c. 1410, Laon – c. 1466,
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