MORALES, Luis de
(b. ca. 1520, Badajoz, d. 1586, Badajoz)

Mater Dolorosa

1570s
Oil on panel, 83 x 58 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The solitary figure of the mourning Virgin personifies the Church, left alone to bear the sorrows of the world after the disciples have fled. It is called the Virgin of Pity. The theme was especially attractive to Spanish painters of the Counter-Reformation where it is called La Soledad, the Virgin of Solitude.