ANDREA DEL SARTO
(b. 1486, Firenze, d. 1530, Firenze)

Pietà with Saints

1523-24
Oil on wood, 239 x 199 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

This painting shows Andrea del Sarto's general movement towards a more restrained, sculptural style. It was produced in the period after Sarto fled Florence during the plague of 1523, when he took refuge at the Camaldolese convent of Luco in the Mugello east of Florence. In the quiet of the country surrounded by the attentive sisters, he painted the Pietà for the altar of their church.

The composition of the Pietà is predicated on the monumental figures set directly at the picture plane. The painter imposed his preferred x-shape on the design through the interlocking characters.