Our Lady of Sorrows, XVIII secolo

Oil painting on canvas

cm 59 x 52

Oil painting on canvas in a non-contemporary frame. Italian School. This canvas is part of the large production of popular devotional paintings in Italy, especially in the central-southern area between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The sacred subject is the transliteration in painting of a Latin composition, traditionally attributed to Jacopone da Todi, the "Stabat Mater". Following what the prayer says, the Virgin is represented at the foot of the cross, pierced in the chest by a sword, which metaphorically indicates her aching soul. On the right are depicted a crown of thorns and the shroud, iconographic attributes of the Passion of Christ. The Madonna is portrayed with wrinkled eyebrows and eyes full of pain that almost seem to bulge. The contracted face is marked by an expression of extreme disturbance. The hands are intertwined in a squeeze of supplication to emphasize uncontrollable suffering. The effigy of the mourning of Mary before the Christ on Golgotha, turns into a popular image of a mother torn apart by the loss of her son, strongly evocative for the observer in prayer, capable of arousing a feeling of mercy and devotion. State of preservation: work lined and trimmed in good condition, has minor adjustments.