In
these works we see the development of the visual icon of mourning from
Classical Greek funerary motives to the Medieval images of aspects of
the Passion Cycle: from the Deposition of Christ (Christ being removed
from the cross), to the lamentation of Christ and the development iconographic
pose of the Pietà-- popularized
in Northern Europe in the 15th century, and
epitomized by Michelangelo's Vatican
Pietà 1498-1499. Though not the first to show Mary holding her
son in her lap, the fame of Michelangelo's piece provided a greatly
admired model of the pose which was to be copied by generations of artists
right up to the present. |
