''Pietà with Saints Clare, Francis and Mary Magdalene'' is a 1585 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian artist

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

, now in the

Galleria nazionale di Parma The Galleria nazionale di Parma is an art gallery in Parma, northern Italy. Painters exhibited in the museum include Beato Angelico, Fra Angelico, Canaletto, Ludovico Carracci ('' The Funeral of the Virgin Mary''), Agostino Carracci ('' Madonna ...

. It was produced for the high altar of the Capuchin church in Parma as one of the artist's first works outside Bologna. The commission may have been linked to the

Farnese family The House of Farnese (, also , ) was an influential family in Renaissance Italy. The titles of Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Duke of Latera and Duke of Castro were held by various members of the family. Its most important members included Po ...

, which had a fundamental role in the artist's future career. The family had backed the Capuchins establishing friaries in Parma and

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

and in the 1570s duke

Ottavio Farnese Ottavio Farnese (9 October 1524 – 18 September 1586) reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 until his death and Duke of Castro from 1545 to 1547 and from 1553 until his death. Biography Born in Valentano, Ottavio was the second so ...

assigned them the now-destroyed churches Santa Maria Maddalena in Parma and San Bernardino in Piacenza, having financed the rebuilding of both. Daniele Benati, in ''Annibale Carracci, Catalogo della mostra Bologna e Roma 2006-2007'' (a cura di D. Benati e E. Riccomini), Milano, 2006, p. 174. It was praised in all the historic sources on Annibale, such as Francesco Scannelli's ''Il microcosmo della pittura'' (1657),

Carlo Cesare Malvasia Carlo Cesare Malvasia (18 December 16169 March 1693) was an Italian scholar and art historian from Bologna, best known for his biographies of Baroque artists titled ''Felsina pittrice'', published in 1678. Together with his contemporary Giovanni P ...

's ''Felsina Pittrice'' (1678), Giovanni Pietro Bellori's ''Vite de' pittori, scultori e architetti moderni'' in 1672. Bellori also refers to

Federico Zuccari Federico Zuccaro, also known as Federico Zuccari and Federigo Zucchero ( July/August 1609), was an Italian painter, draughtsman, architect and writer. He worked in various cities in Italy, as well as in other countries such as Spain, France, t ...

's praise for the work. The Napoleonic regime confiscated the work in 1799 and it was only returned to Parma in 1815, entering the Galleria later that year. It was restored for the 1956 Carracci exhibition in Bologna, revealing the date 1585 in Arabic numerals on the stone under Christ's right hand, confirming the date proposed by art historian Hermann Voss. Correggio deposition

The main figures of the scene and the two angels who support the Virgin are arranged as if to compose a sort of "

tableau vivant A (; often shortened to ; ; ) is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically illuminated. It thus combines ...

" around the lifeless body of Christ, seated on the base of the tomb and with his head abandoned on the knees of his mother, who lies unconscious behind him.

Gallery

File:Annibale Carracci, studio di Cristo in Pietà.jpg, The study in the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

References

Bibliography (in Italian)

* Corrado Ricci, ''La Regia Galleria di Parma,'' Parma, 1896 * Angela Ghilardi, Scheda dell'opera; in Lucia Fornari Schianchi (a cura di) ''Galleria Nazionale di Parma. Catalogo delle opere, il Cinquecento,'' Milano, 1998 * Eugenio Riccomini, ''Dopo Correggio: appunti sulla pittura a Parma dal Correggio ad Annibale Carracci'', in ''Emilian Painting of the 16th and 17th Centuries'', Bologna, 1987 * Lucia Fornari Schianchi, ''Come si forma un museo: il caso della Galleria Nazionale di Parma;'' in Fornari Schianchi (a cura di), ''Galleria Nazionale di Parma. Catalogo delle opere dall'Antico al Cinquecento,'' Milano, 1997 * Alberto Crispo, ''L'arte nelle chiese e nei conventi cappuccini del ducato farnesiano'', in ''I cappuccini in Emilia Romagna. Storia di una presenza'', a cura di Pozzi e Prodi, Bologna 2002, pp. 410–434 * Daniele Benati, scheda dell'opera nel catalogo a cura di D. Benati ed E. Riccomini ''Annibale Carracci'', Electa, Milano, 2007, pp. 174–175. {{Annibale Carracci 1585 paintings Paintings by Annibale Carracci Collection of the Galleria nazionale di Parma Paintings of Clare of Assisi Paintings of Francis of Assisi Paintings of Mary Magdalene

Carracci The Carracci ( , , {{IPA, it, karˈrattʃi, lang) were a family of Italian artists. Notable members include: * the three members who worked together and are known collectively as the Carracci, i.e.: ** Agostino Carracci (1557–1602), Italian pa ...