‖ Pietà
(pjeˈta)
[It.:—L. pietāt-em piety.]
A representation, in painting or sculpture, of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ on her lap.
| 1644 Evelyn Diary 21 Apr., On one side, is the statue of the Virgin Mary or Pieta, with the dead Christ in her lap. 1715 J. Richardson The Painting 85 In a Pietà of Van-Dyck. 1859 A. Jameson Early Ital. Paint. 187 In 1500,..he [Angelo] produced the famous group of the dead Christ on the knees of his Virgin Mother (called the Pietà). 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. xxvii, The fifteenth-century stained glass, the sculptured Pietas, and the choir stalls. |