Loading

Pietà (Main View)

Fernando Gallego

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

In this depiction of the lamentation of Christ, Fernando Gallego looked to Northern European paintings for inspiration but included distinctly Spanish elements such as a subdued palette and unidealized figures. Unlike Netherlandish artists who were interested in depicting the natural world in minute detail, Gallego concentrated on the pietà's psychological and emotional impact, eliminating extraneous or distracting elements.

The Virgin Mary sits in front of the cross, gazing at her dead son in her lap. On the ground around them are several pebbles, a bone, and a skull. A lance and a rod with attached sponge, two instruments from the Passion, lean perfectly vertically against the cross, which is inscribed with the initials i.n.r.i. Behind the cross a rocky landscape overlooks a Gothic walled town, settled between a body of water and verdant countryside that stretches into the far distance.

Gallego focused on the moment after the Crucifixion when overwhelming anguish gave way to resigned misery, the sentiment evident in the grief-stricken face of the Virgin, flushed and swollen from weeping. Christ's broken and emaciated body, his eyes unseeing, stretches awkwardly across her lap. Their exaggerated and unidealized features intensify the pathos central to the theme of the pietà.

Details

  • Title: Pietà (Main View)
  • Creator: Fernando Gallego
  • Date Created: about 1490–1500
  • Physical Dimensions: 49.8 × 34.3 cm (19 5/8 × 13 1/2 in.)
  • Type: Painting
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Oil on panel
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 85.PB.267
  • Culture: Spanish (Castile)
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Creator Display Name: Circle of Fernando Gallego (Spanish (Castile), about 1440/1445 - about 1507)
  • Classification: Paintings (Visual Works)

Additional Items

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Flash this QR Code to get the app
Google apps