Pieta

Jacopo Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti)

model second quarter of the 16th century (19th century silvering) · Silvered copper alloy. · Robert Lehman Collection

The composition of this unique cast relies heavily on Michelangelo’s Pietà, whereas the classical face of Mary is clearly influenced by Jacopo Sansovino’s Madonna del Parto (Martelli altar, ca. 1518, Sant’Agostino, Rome).(1) The unknown modeler, then, must have been situated in Rome in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. The empty and coarse background suggests that the plaque was cast from a damaged or unfinished model. The bronze has an unusually high content, about 30 percent, of nickel. The silvering was done in the nineteenth century by electrotype.

Artist

Jacopo Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti)

Date

model second quarter of the 16th century (19th century silvering)

Medium

Silvered copper alloy.

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975