Pietà
Artist: Rogier van der Weyden (Belgian, About 1399 - 1464)
Original Dimensions: 14" x 17 3/4"
Location: National Gallery of Art, London
About Artwork: (Probably about 1465) "According to the Meditations on the Life of Christ and other texts, the weeping Virgin Mary embraced Christ’s body when he was taken down from the Cross. This subject is usually referred to as the pietà. On the left is Saint Jerome with the lion that was his companion. On the right, a saint wearing the black and white robes of the Dominican Order could be Dominic, but he has no identifying emblem. The donor wears a black garment trimmed with brown fur. The object behind his head is a purple hat, and he wear pattens (wooden overshoes). He is possibly Girolamo Vento, a Genoese merchant living in Bruges in 1469–70. The figures of the Virgin and Christ are simplified adaptations from the centre panel of the Miraflores Triptych (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) with other figures added around them. Similar groups occur in other paintings connected with Rogier: it seems that he made a simplified version of the Miraflores Pietà which could be repeated and varied by his assistants for different clients." - (National Gallery of Art, London)

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