Lot 02

PIETÀ

The High Gothic Pieta belongs to the group of pietas of the beautiful style, which followed the so-called horizontal pietas (with the horizontal placement of Christ's body on the Virgin Mary's lap). The horizontal type, which came out of the Bohemian parlour probably in the 1480s, gained considerable popularity in Central Europe. However, very few original works have survived in Bohemia, as the theme of piety was a frequent target of iconoclastic attacks, especially during the Hussite Wars. The offered pieta is characterised by a very unusual expression of generous nobility and sadness on the young face of the Virgin Mary, reminiscent of the type we know more from beautiful Madonnas than pietas. The Pieta, draped in a lined cloak with later Baroque polychrome and gilding, retains some of the compositional principles of the pietas of the Beaux-Arts style, i.e. the diagonal position of Christ's torso, albeit here at a steeper angle, or the tilt of the head towards Christ's face. Also interesting is the gesture of the 'three hands', when the mother touches the Son's lifeless hands. This gesture is known, for example, at the Pieta in the Church of St. Lawrence in St. Vitry. Also noticeable is the subtle ace-shaped curve represented by the slight deviation of the Mother's body from the body of Christ. The offered Pieta comes from the German collection of Albert Schwarz, published in the catalogue from 1931. The polychrome has been cleaned by restorers.