a visit with jesus

 Bible Art

Pietà
Artist: José Ribera
 1637    Painting

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The painting is in oils on canvas and its dimensions are 157 x 210 cm. It is owned by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. Ribera painted two other known canvases of the same subject. One is in the San Martino Museum and the other is in the National Gallery, London.

The work is part of a transition period in which the artist, without leaving the shadows of tenebrism, began to experiment with brighter coloring inspired by the work of artists such as Rubens and van Dyck.

The body of Christ is framed horizontally in the foreground of the composition. On the right, John the Apostle supports the subject's back while the grieving Mary Magdalene kisses Christ's feet. In the center is Mary with a face ravaged by pain looking to the sky and placing her hands together in prayer. At the upper right, the face of Joseph of Arimathea emerges from the darkness, veiled by the chiaroscuro technique.

Pieta
Artist: Titian
 1576    Painting

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This painting has the scale of an altarpiece, yet turned towards the night, a sombre pendant to his golden Assumption. Titian was a believer, and this painting is full of hints of resurrection - but the sense of dread makes it almost unbearable as Titian says farewell to light.