Collection Publications: Reflections of the Passion (y1962-79)

On Golgotha, the Virgin, attended by two of the Maries, holds the dead Christ on her lap, in a compositional scheme known as the Pieta (literally, "piety" or "pity ").This panel was probably part of an altarpiece, which explains why the artist has taken pains to display Christ's sacrificed body as prominently as possible. The Virgin's angular, draped lap suggests analogies with an altar bearing the sacrifice, recalling medieval texts such as Ludolph of Saxony's Vita Iesu Christi: "Mary is well prefigured by the altar-table because through her a celestial meal has been served to us."