Figure of the Pietà
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels
Dimensions
h. 38.5 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Decorative Art and Design
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Museum purchase from various donors by exchange
Accession Number
2019.75
Tags
About this artwork
The distinctively Roman Catholic subject of Mary cradling her son, the crucified Christ, suggests this figure was probably made for one of the aristocratic English families forced to practice their Catholicism in secret during the mid-1700s. Because of the laws banning Catholic worship in England, grand houses were often modified to include private chapels or rooms in private quarters where visiting priests delivered the sacraments in defiance of the laws favoring Protestant worship. A figure of...