OIL ON CANVAS. PITY. 18TH CENTURY

Italian school of the 18th century. "Piety". Oil on panel. The work we present here is a painting of a devotional nature, especially due to its small format, probably destined for a private altar. It represents the theme of Piety with scenographic sense and deep drama, although it is expressed in a narrative way, without removing the image from its context. Thus, instead of the usual iconography of Mary crying with the dead Christ in her lap before a pathetic dark background, we see the two protagonists in an abrupt landscape, in the background of which we can see the cross with the ladder still resting on it, and in the background the profile of the city of Jerusalem. And, above all, Mary and Christ appear accompanied by Saint John, an angel and a suffering figure who could be Mary Magdalene. The composition is therefore more complex, and although the Virgin does not appear alone, she does appear absent to those around her, dominated by pain, raising her eyes and left hand towards the sky. Furthermore, in front of the characters we see the enormous nails, the crown of thorns and Veronica's cloth. These elements are clearly symbolic but at the same time narrative, as is the dark figure that appears next to Christ's hand, a small animal of probable symbolic meaning.

· Size: 26 x 20 cm; 41 x 28 cm (marco)..