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This is perhaps the most poignant image in the National Gallery’s collection of the pietà – the lamentation over the dead Christ following his crucifixion. It was a subject to which Annibale Carracci returned frequently, especially during the last decade of his life. Here, the limp and lifeless body of Christ lies in the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary. A distraught Mary Magdalene kneels on the right, hands raised and mouth open in a wail of anguish. At the back an older woman in dark green reaches out towards the fainting Virgin, whose weight is supported by a fair-haired young woman. The composition is built on strong diagonals and our eye is guided around the picture by colour, gaze and expression. Annibale has skilfully concentrated our attention on each figure and her emotional response in turn.
Title
The Dead Christ Mourned ('The Three Maries')
Date
about 1604
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 92.8 x W 103.2 cm
Accession number
NG2923
Acquisition method
Presented by Rosalind Countess of Carlisle, 1913
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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