Study for the Pietà
Medium
Charcoal, highlighted with white gouache, squared in charcoal, on blue paper
Dimensions
9 5/16 x 5 7/8in. (23.6 x 15cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1982
Accession Number
1982.92
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the early Baroque era, Giulio Cesare Procacc, a prominent Milanese artist from a family of painters and sculptors, created this intimate *Study for the Pietà around 1604. Working in the vibrant Lombard tradition, Procaccini captured the profound sorrow of the Virgin Mary cradling the lifeless Christ—a timeless Christian motif intensified by Counter-Reformation demands for emotional depth and spiritual fervor. This preparatory drawing on blue paper exemplifies the preparatory processes of the time, with charcoal squaring grids allowing the composition to be transferred and enlarged for a lar...
About the Artist
Giulio Cesare Procaccini · 1574–1625
Painter and sculptor, son of Ercole Procaccini. Having moved to Milan with the rest of the family in the mid-1580s, he trained as a sculptor, perhaps in the workshop of Francesco Brambilla (ii), and then worked (1591–9) for the workshop of Milan Cathedral. Italian painter, printmaker.