Pietà

Overwhelmed by her helplessness and pain, Mary holds her dead son in her lap. Pale colours and the pathos of marbles by Michelangelo and from antiquity are concentrated into a scene suffused with the silence of death. A crown of thorns and bloody nails in the gloom of the tomb point to the agonies suffered; at the same time, they offer the devout believer reference points for prayers and spiritual immersion, as befitted the intentions of the Counter-Reformation.