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Pietà

Drawing
16th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Clovio, Giulio (after)
Place of origin
Italy (made)

'Pieta'; The Maries and St. Joseph wailing over the dead body of Jesus Christ; Black chalk.

Object details

Category
Drawings
Object type
Drawing
TitlePietà (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Black chalk drawing
Black Chalk
Drawing
Brief description
After Clovio, Giulio; 'Pieta'; The Maries and St. Joseph wailing over the dead body of Jesus Christ; Black chalk; Italian; 16th century.
Physical description
'Pieta'; The Maries and St. Joseph wailing over the dead body of Jesus Christ; Black chalk.
Dimensions
  • Height: 357mm
  • Width: 261mm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Object history
Giulio Clovio made several miniatures of the Pietà, one for his patron, Cardinal Grimani, which was subsequently owned by Giovanni Gaddi. Another with the Madonna and other figures was presented by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to the Carafa Pope Paul IV. He also executed a version for Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara.

A signed miniature of the Pietà of 1553 is in the collections of the Galleria degli Uffizi and was made for Cosimo I de' Medici during Clovio's Florentine sojourn. It is the composition most closely related to the present drawing. It appears that the drawing was made after Clovio's Florentine Pietà rather than constituting a preparatory drawing for the Uffizi miniature. The unknown artist of the drawing has almost faithfully copied the original composition, except for altering St. John the Bapist's facial expression.
Subjects depicted
Death
Jesus Christ
Mary (Mother of James and John)
John (Saint John the Evangelist)
Joseph (Of Arimathea, Saint)
Mary Magdalen (Magdalene)
Mary (Of Cleophas)
The Maries
The Pietà
Bibliographic references
  • Peter Ward Jackson Italian Drawings. Volume One: 14th - 16th centuryLondon, HMSO, 1979. ISBN: 0112902316.
  • DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
  • Franklin, David, Carlo Gasparri, Ingrid D. Rowland, Sebastian Schütze, From Raphael to Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome, Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009.
  • p. 410 Zoltán Kárpáti ; with contributions by Eszter Nagy ; with essays by Marco Simone Bolzoni, Sir Timothy Clifford, Paul Joannides, William E. Wallace.‎, Triumph of the body : Michelangelo and sixteenth-century Italian draughtsmanship Budapest : Museum of Fine Arts, 2019‎. ISBN: 9786155987021
Other number
PWJ 124 - Ward Jackson Catalogue Number
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
DYCE.218

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Record createdAugust 17, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138560/pietà-drawing-clovio-giulio/
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