Pieta - Attributed to Giovanni Stefano Danedi dit Il Montalto - 17th century

The composition of the painting is based on two diagonals, the first being Christ and the second Mary Magdalene and the Virgin, her face being in the center of the painting. In order to accentuate the effect of the clearly visible pain on his face, the nails of the cruxifixion are placed on the ground in the foreground in front of the body of Christ. The red of her dress and the blue of her cloak, distributed on either side of the body of Christ, highlight the cadaveric body. The depth of space is evoked by the representation of Mount Golgotha.


Giovanni Stefano Danedi aka Montalto
Lombard painter, he was first of all a pupil of Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli. With his brother Giuseppe, he left for Rome in 1641 and stayed there until 1648. During all these years, they discovered the Baroque and in particular the works of Peter of Cortona. Back in Milan he devoted himself to his great religious commissions, but also to the decorations of large Lombard villas, called by families like the Borromeo or the Arese.

This painting can be compared to another pieta de Montalto which is in the Magnin museum in Dijon. We find Christ in an almost similar position, but the color contrasts are less present than in our painting.