Pietà ('The Three Maries') (after Annibale Carracci)
after Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560 - Rome 1609)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1798 - 1799
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
927 x 1092 mm (36 1/2 x 43 in)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732147
Caption
The dead Christ is mourned, unusually, by only women here. His body rests on the swooning Virgin’s lap. Mary Magdalene is the tearful woman, traditionally in red and yellow, with her arms outstretched and the other women are possibly Mary, mother of James and Mary Salome, who according to legend was the midwife at Christ’s birth or the older woman, in green, could be the Virgin’s mother, Anne. A pietà, meaning pity, is a more devotional term for the lamentation with more mourners which follows the deposition or descent from the cross in narrative of the life and death of Christ and precedes the entombment. A copy of the painting by Annibale Carracci in the National Gallery, London which was in the duc d’Orléans collection and arrived in England in 1798 when it was probably copied.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Pietà ('The Three Maries') (after Annibale Carracci), after Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560 – Rome 1609), circa 1798/99. A copy of the painting by Carracci in the National Gallery, London. The lamentation of Christ, not mentioned in the biblical Gospels but a traditional subject for depiction, unusually shows only the women mourners. The dead Christ rests on the Virgin’s lap. She is dressed in blue and the Mary Magdalene is probably the prominent lady with her arms outstretched in the centre, traditionally wearing red. The other two women are possibly Mary, mother of James and Mary Salome.
Provenance
Brought from Wavendon by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare 6th Bt (1865 - 1947) and Alda Weston, Lady Hoare (d. 1847) in 1897; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560 - Rome 1609), artist