Pietà

A 'Pietà' (Italian: pity) represents the Virgin grieving alone over her son’s body. Roberti’s 'Pietà' is influenced by northern European painting with its emphasis on pain and suffering. Usually in Italian art Christ and his mother are idealised and beautiful. The figures rest on Christ’s tomb; to the left is the cave where he will be laid to rest. Emotion is heightened by the bare, rocky landscape and the jagged outline of the Virgin’s black, rather than traditionally blue, robe. This painting once formed part of an altarpiece in Bologna. Its curved surface is due to its wood warping.