Pietà with Sorrowing Angels 17th century

Mattheus van Beveren made this wooden sculpture of the Pietà with Sorrowing Angels in the late 17th century. Van Beveren presents us with a classic scene of religious grief, Mary cradling the dead Christ, surrounded by angels who share in her sorrow. It was crafted in the Southern Netherlands, a region with a deeply rooted Catholic identity, then under Spanish rule. During this period, the Church was a major patron of the arts, using sculptures like this to reinforce religious devotion. The image draws heavily on established visual codes: the suffering mother, the lifeless body, and the weeping cherubs are all designed to evoke an emotional response. The choice of wood as a medium would have made the artwork more accessible to ordinary people. Art historians often study patronage records and religious literature to better understand the cultural context. By analyzing these sources, we can see how art and faith were intertwined in the social fabric of the 17th-century Netherlands.