BARTOLOMEO, Fra
(b. 1472, Firenze, d. 1517, Pian' di Mugnone)

Lamentation

1511-12
Oil on wood, 158 x 199 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Deep emotion presented soberly and gracefully is the hallmark of Fra Bartolomeo. The Pietà at the centre evokes pity, while on either side, the grieving evangelist John, the beloved disciple, and Mary Magdalen hold Christ but do not touch him directly. The figures of Peter and Paul above and the scene of Golgotha were discovered during restoration in the late 1980s.