Pietà 1540

Il Sodoma's 'Pietà' is a poignant image of grief, rendered in oil paint with a visible attention to texture and form. Notice the material qualities of oil paint, thickly applied in some areas to create shadows and depth, and thinly glazed in others, to give a translucent quality to Christ's skin. The artist's skilled handling of the medium allows him to capture the weight of Christ's body, the folds of Mary's robes, and the softness of her face. Il Sodoma, trained in the Renaissance tradition, would have spent years learning how to grind pigments, mix paints, and prepare canvases. The labor involved in creating such a painting was considerable, a world away from our era of mass-produced images. Paintings like this remind us that every work of art is the product of human skill, effort, and time, and blur the distinction between the hand-made and high art.