Pietà

Simon Bening

probably 1522–23 · Tempera and gold leaf on parchment · Robert Lehman Collection

Simon Bening was one of the most famous illuminators of the sixteenth century. This leaf, which is in an excellent state of preservation, was part of an opulent, two-volume book of hours made for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490–1545). Archbishop and elector of Mainz, Albrecht was an ambitious patron of the arts. In addition to two other manuscripts by Bening, Albrecht also commissioned works from Dürer, Grünewald, and Cranach. This Pietà, with its border scenes of Noli me tangere and the Holy Women at the Sepulcher, would have introduced the Hours of the Compassion of the Virgin in the first volume of Albrecht’s manuscript. Executed in the early 1520s, the Hours of Albrecht of Brandenburg date from the most productive decade of Bening’s long career.

Artist

Simon Bening

Date

probably 1522–23

Medium

Tempera and gold leaf on parchment

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975