''Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon'' is an oil painting of the mid-15th century that is considered one of the outstanding works of art of the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Following its appearance at an exhibition in 1904 its authorship was disputed, though it has since been accepted as the work of

Enguerrand Quarton Enguerrand Quarton (or Charonton) ( 1410 – 1466) was a French painter and manuscript illuminator whose few surviving works are among the first masterpieces of a distinctively French style, very different from either Italian or Early Netherlan ...

. It is now in the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The

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 ...

, where the dead Christ is supported by his grieving mother, is a common theme of late-medieval religious art, but this is one of the most striking depictions, "perhaps the greatest masterpiece produced in France in the 15th century" (

Edward Lucie-Smith John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith (born 27 February 1933), known as Edward Lucie-Smith, is a Jamaican-born English writer, poet, art critic, curator and broadcaster. He has been highly prolific in these fields, writing or editing over a hundred ...

). It is distinctive from previous depictions of the subject—which were often characterized by overt displays of grief and trauma—by virtue of its restraint. The composition is stable, with the Virgin's hands together in prayer, rather than clutching the body of Christ.Denny, Don. Notes on the Avignon Pieta, ''Speculum'', Medieval Academy of America, 1969.
/ref> The curved back form of Christ's body is highly original, and the stark, motionless dignity of the other figures is very different from Italian or Netherlandish depictions. The style of the painting is unique for its time: the grouping of the figures appears somewhat primitive, yet the conception evidences both great breadth and delicacy, the latter quality especially evident in the specificity of the portraits and the elegant gesture of St. John's hands at Christ's head. The bare background landscape falls away to a horizon broken by the buildings of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, but instead of a sky there is plain gold leaf with stamped and incised haloes, borders and inscriptions. The clerical donor, portrayed with Netherlandish realism, kneels to the left. The painting came from

Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (; Provençal: ''Vilanòva d’Avinhon'') is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It can also be spelled ''Villeneuve-lez-Avignon''. History In the 6th century the Benedictine abbey of St André was foun ...

, just across the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

from Avignon, and is sometimes known as the "Villeneuve Pietà". It can also be suggested that the buildings depicted on the left background are an imaginary representation of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

and the church of

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

. The city had fallen to the Ottomans in 1453, a few years before the estimated creation of the painting and the main subject (Pieta) can be considered as a lament to the fall of the eastern part of Christendom. Before its widely accepted attribution to Quarton, some art historians thought the painting might be by a Catalan or Portuguese master; it was, according to art historian

Lawrence Gowing Sir Lawrence Burnett Gowing (21 April 1918 – 5 February 1991) was an English artist, writer, curator and teacher. Initially recognised as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and eventuall ...

, "the subject of dispute among protagonists of every school along the seaboard between Lisbon and Messina." Quarton, known to be working in Avignon by 1447, painted two pictures there in the early 1450s which bear comparison to this painting. For Gowing,

The agony of the picture is suffered with a rare restraint. No demonstrative expression could match the tragedy of this body, distended as if dreaming. We are in the presence of the simplicity of sorrow. Against the bare skyline, in the gray-gold of the medieval twilight, the scene seems inexpressibly grand.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pieta Of Villeneuve-Les-Avignon Paintings in the Louvre by French artists Villeneuve 15th-century paintings