Pietà 1581

Paolo Veronese painted this oil on canvas, ‘Pietà,’ which now resides in the Hermitage Museum, likely during the late 16th century. This image presents the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of Christ. The Pietà motif, with its roots in the Lamentation of Christ, underscores themes of grief and redemption central to Christian theology. The motif has ancient roots that spread through the cultures of the Mediterranean. We see echoes of it in earlier depictions of mourning goddesses. For example, Isis mourning Osiris, where gestures of grief and the presentation of the dead mirror those found in Christian Pietàs. Even the act of mourning, a universal expression, taps into our collective unconscious, evoking empathy. Consider how the image is emotionally charged by the Virgin Mary and the angel’s gestures. These activate our primal responses to loss and suffering. This scene powerfully conveys the deep-seated human emotions that transcend time and culture. This cyclical return highlights how archetypal images resurface, evolving and carrying profound meaning across centuries.