Mourning of Christ

The subject of depiction is a multi-figural Pietà, with both Marys and John the Evangelist weeping over Christ’s body which is jointly supported by the Virgin Mary and John. She cradles Christ’s body while John holds his arm with one hand, and Mary’s head with other. The faces of the grieving Marys show terror, while the faces of John and the Virgin Mary show sorrow.

According to the offer of an antiquarian bookshop in Milan, Giovanni Francesco Caroto created the template for this copy which was most probably done in the 19th century. The original was formerly in private ownership in Paris and had the same designation.

Experts are not in agreement regarding the dating of Michelangelo’s (1475–1564) drawing from Vienna with the theme of lamentation over Christ (Albertina), which contains several motifs used by Caroto. However, it is obvious that in around 1530 Michelangelo dealt with the composition of the Pieta with the motif of a supported head and a dominant, all-embracing figure in the background.

Giovanni Francesco Caroto, the more famous of the siblings, came from an artistic Verona family active in the first half of the 16th century. He travelled extensively and his work shows various influences by other artists, particularly Mantegna (around 1431–1506), as is the case of this work, and later by the successors of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Raphael (1483–1520) from Milan.
 

Zuzana Ludiková ● LUDIKOVÁ, Zuzana - BURAN, Dušan. Talianska maľba = Italian Painting. Bratislava : Slovenská národná galéria, 2013. 242 strán. ISBN 9788080591748.