Pietà

Giulio Cesare Procaccinifirst quarter of the XVII century

Details

Title: Pietà
Creator Lifespan: 1574 - 1625
Creator Nationality: Italian
Creator Gender: Male
Creator Death Place: Milan
Creator Birth Place: Bologna
Date: first quarter of the XVII century
Provenance: Archbishop's Picture Gallery
Physical Dimensions: w126.5 x h147.5 cm
Painter: Giulio Cesare Procaccini
Description: This work came to the Diocesan Museum from the Archbishop's Picture Gallery. Its original provenance, however, is unknown. In fact, the painting is not even mentioned in historical inventories of the gallery. Its attribution to the hand of Giulio Cesare Procaccini, on the other hand, is unanimous. More specifically, the Pietà, for stylistic reasons, can be assigned to the late production of the artist. The same compositional scheme, with one main figure supported by another figure behind his back, can also be seen in Saint Sebastian Comforted by Angels (Milan, Municipal Collections of the Sforza Castle), which has also been attributed to the late phase of Giulio Cesare’s career. The virtuosic rendering of the anatomy of the figure of Christ, also accentuated by his supernatural dimensions, is one of the characteristics of the late activity of the artist. Although the formal qualities of the late Procaccini tend to be schematic and academically rigorous, Christ’s body reveals the influence of Rubens in his work.
Type: painting
Rights: © Archivio fotografico Museo Diocesano, Milano
Medium: Oil on canvas

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