Pietà (Perugino)
Encyclopedia
Pietà is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino
, executed around 1483-1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
.
and a Crucifixion. Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari
saw them in side altars of the church of San Giovanni Battista alla Calza, after the original location had been destroyed during the Siege of Florence
in 1529. It was moved to the Uffizi in the 20th century.
The dating of the work is disputed: it varies from 1482, the year of Perugino's return from Rome, to a slightly later period, although before the end of the century, when the artist started to use only line oil, which in these works is used only at an experimental level.
The painting was restored in 1998.
was depicted by Perugino under a portico, a typical theme of his art in the 1480s and 1490s (used for example in the Albani-Torlonia Polyptych of the Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian
). The serene landscape with light trees is also common in his paintings of the period.
Such as in the German Vesperbilder, Jesus's body is horizontal and quite rigid, also hold by John the Baptist on the left and Mary Magdalene on the right. At the sides are further saints, a young one (Nicodemus) on the left, with the hands joined in his chest, and an aged one (John of Arimathea) on the right, looking down.
The use of less pale tonalities for Mary Magdalene is similar to that used by Luca Signorelli
at the time.
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino , born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance...
, executed around 1483-1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
History
The work was painted for the church of the convent of San Giusto alle mura together with the Agony in the GardenAgony in the Garden (Perugino)
Pietà is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed around 1483-1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.-History:...
and a Crucifixion. Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
saw them in side altars of the church of San Giovanni Battista alla Calza, after the original location had been destroyed during the Siege of Florence
Siege of Florence
There have been a number of sieges of the city of Florence:* Siege of Florence , part of the Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines* Siege of Florence , part of the War of the League of Cognac...
in 1529. It was moved to the Uffizi in the 20th century.
The dating of the work is disputed: it varies from 1482, the year of Perugino's return from Rome, to a slightly later period, although before the end of the century, when the artist started to use only line oil, which in these works is used only at an experimental level.
The painting was restored in 1998.
Description
The scene of the PietàPietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
was depicted by Perugino under a portico, a typical theme of his art in the 1480s and 1490s (used for example in the Albani-Torlonia Polyptych of the Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian
Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian
Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed in 1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.-History:...
). The serene landscape with light trees is also common in his paintings of the period.
Such as in the German Vesperbilder, Jesus's body is horizontal and quite rigid, also hold by John the Baptist on the left and Mary Magdalene on the right. At the sides are further saints, a young one (Nicodemus) on the left, with the hands joined in his chest, and an aged one (John of Arimathea) on the right, looking down.
The use of less pale tonalities for Mary Magdalene is similar to that used by Luca Signorelli
Luca Signorelli
Luca Signorelli was an Italian Renaissance painter who was noted in particular for his ability as a draughtsman and his use of foreshortening...
at the time.