The ''Pietà'' or ''Christ's Body Supported by the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist'' is a tempera on panel painting by

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

, now in the

Accademia Carrara The Accademia Carrara, (), officially Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, in Lombardy in northern Italy. The art gallery was established in about 1780 by , a Bergamasco collect ...

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

. Dated to around 1455, it is one of his earliest independent works and the prototype for his series of

pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

s. It draws on Byzantine icons of the 'imago pietatis', of which there were many examples throughout Venice, and of 'Ritratti di Passione' or 'portraits of the Passion', in which the dead Christ invites the viewer to contemplate his wounds. The crossed arms are drawn from a famous Roman mosaic-icon from

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, ( la, Basilica Sanctae Crucis in Hierusalem) is a Catholic Minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim ...

basilica which was held to be miraculous and had according to legend been commissioned by

pope Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

based on a vision during a mass. Mariolina Olivari, ''Giovanni Bellini'', in AA.VV., ''Pittori del Rinascimento'', Scala, Firenze 2007. The three figures appear behind a balustrade which bears a (possibly fake) signature by the artist. Above each figure is his or her name in gold Greek letters, further proof of the painting's origins in Venice. Their extreme expressions of grief are unusual in Bellini's oeuvre and may have been influenced by

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...

's reliefs for the high altar of the

Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua The Pontifical Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua ( it, Basilica Pontificia di Sant'Antonio di Padova) is a Catholic church and minor basilica in Padua, Veneto, Northern Italy, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. Although the basilica is visi ...

. The interlocked gestures were possibly inspired by the followers of

Francesco Squarcione Francesco Squarcione (''c.'' 1395 – after 1468) was an Italian artist from Padua. His pupils included Andrea Mantegna (with whom he had many legal battles), Cosimo Tura and Carlo Crivelli. There are only two works signed by him: the ''Mad ...

, known as the Squarcioneschi, particularly

Carlo Crivelli Carlo Crivelli (Venice, c. 1430 – Ascoli Piceno, c. 1495) was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivari ...

– the influence is so marked that the work was later misattributed to the first

Ferrarese School A Ferrarese is a citizen of Ferrara, Italy. It may also refer to: People * Adriana Ferrarese del Bene (c. 1755–after 1804), Italian operatic soprano * Don Ferrarese (born 1929), former Major League Baseball pitcher * Enrique Ferrarese (1882–19 ...

by Arslan.

References

Paintings by Giovanni Bellini 1455 paintings {{15C-painting-stub