The Pietá or “Paso de la sexta Angustia”

This group was part of a "paso" (float for religious parades) ordered to the sculptor by the Brotherhood of Nuestra Senora de las Angustias. Constituted of two other figures - kept nowadays in the church of the abovementioned brotherhood-, Mary Magdalene and Saint John, and a bare cross. Dated in 1616, it was polychrome in 1617. In this work, the style of Gregorio Fernandez is clearly defined: naturalism, marked broken pleats, expressive faces and hands, plastic quality in the anatomies... The central group, arranged in diagonal, shows the Virgin looking at the sky with a painful begging gesture, while she firmly holds, with a very expressive hand, the body of Christ that seems to slip from her lap. Both figures are treated with beauty and elegance. Both thieves are great anatomic studies; both have a thought contrast that responds to the need of a clear narration, a quality demanded from the "pasos": Dismas or the Good Thief, in serene stance, his head softly inclined, his hair tidy, his calm face looking at the central group; Gestas, the Impenitent Thief, with his body in a more violent position, his ruffled hair, frowned forehead and open mouth, separating his face from divinity, shows his evil condition.