Pieta

ArtistAttributed to the Master of the Academia Annunciation (Italian, active 14th century)

Dateabout 1380

Mediumegg tempera and gold leaf on panel

Dimensionspanel, 37.1 x 29.5 cm (14 5/8 x 11 5/8 in.)
framed, 55.4 x 47.8 x 4.9 cm (21 13/16 x 18 13/16 x 1 15/16 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Margery Williams Adams

Terms

Object number2012.83

Label TextThis painting raises many questions. The attribution came from the scholar Richard Offner, who connected a number of works with artistic similarities to a painting in the Accademia in Florence. The artist’s identity, however, is still under debate. The treatment of the subject matter is also a curiosity. The Man of Sorrows became popular in Europe in the 1200s, a devotional subject meant to stir viewers’ emotions by emphasizing the physical effects of Christ's wounds. In a less conventional take on the subject, the artist of this painting has placed Christ into the arms of a woman: her red garment implies that she is Mary Magdalene, but the stars on her cloak typically symbolize the Virgin Mary.ProvenancePrivate collection in Pittsfield, MA (according to Bernard Berenson, 1932); to collector Frank Channing Smith, Jr., Worcester, MA (about 1932); to his niece, Margery W. Adams, Charlotte, NC (1952)

On View

Not on view