Currently not on view
Pietà,
ca. 1480
South German
y1956-114
A new subject beginning in the fourteenth century, the Pietà (Italian for "pity") represents the Virgin Mary holding her dead son, Jesus, in her lap. This scene is not found in the Gospels, but is one of a number of new themes in Christian art intended to encourage meditation, convey pathos, and provoke a profound emotional response in the viewer. It echoes images of the Virgin cradling her child adding to its emotional immediacy. The development of the Pietà parallels the rise in mystical literature of the time and responds to individual aspirations for a personal relationship with God.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Pietà
Dates
ca. 1480
Medium
Polychrome wood
Dimensions
68 x 50 x 18.8 cm (26 3/4 x 19 11/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Albert Mathias Friend, Jr., Class of 1915
Object Number
y1956-114
Place Made
Europe, South Germany
Culture
Type
Subject
Albert Mathias Friend; 1956 bequest to Princeton University Art Museum.
- William H. Forsyth, "A Princeton pieta", Late classical and mediaeval studies in honor of Albert Mathias Friend, jr., (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1955)., p. 401-405 (illus.)
- "Recent acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 16, no. 1 (1957): p. 12-14., p. 12
- Robert A. Koch, "A Gothic sculpture of the Ascending Christ", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 19, no. 1 (1960): p. 37-43., p. 38
