The Pietà

This Pietà, executed by an artist working in the circle of Scipione Pulzone, is clearly indebted to Pulzone's late style, and represents the Virgin sitting on a rocky ledge and supporting the limp body of her son on her lap. The warm, pink tones of her hands and feet contrast sharply with His marble-like pallor, and the pathos of the scene reaches its high point in the distraught features of the Virgin, who presses her cheek against Christ's lifeless one. It comes close to several versions of the composition believed to be autograph, most notably a Pietà in the collection of Lord Bagot, London.

Scipione Pulzone, known as il Gaetano for his birth city of Gaeta, is believed to have been a pupil of Jacopino del Conte in Rome. Pulzone began his career as a portrait painter, working in a style that synthesized qualities of Italian court portraiture, French paintings, and the vibrant palette of Venetian artists. Yet having established his reputation, Pulzone turned his attention from the secular to the sacred realm, choosing to focus the remainder of his career of religious subjects. With their clarity of design and focus on the essentials of form, these later works contrasted strongly with the extravagant compositions being produced by the Roman Mannerists.