The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 15, 2026

A vertically oriented tempera and gold painting on vellum depicts three women with light skin tones cradling a dead man with pale skin and wounds. To our right, a man with light skin tone in a green cloak stands with hands clasped. In the middle ground, a soldier holds a spear with a red flag. A distant city and three crosses sit on a hill under a blue sky. A blue border frames the scene.

Single Leaf from a Book of Hours: Pieta

c. 1475–85

attributed to Francesco dai Libri

(Italian, 1452–1506)

after Andrea Mantegna

(Italian, about 1431–1506)
Italy, Verona(?), 15th century
tempera and gold on vellum
Sheet: 14 x 9.3 cm (5 1/2 x 3 11/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1951.394
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

All books of hours contain the same basic sections, the order of which can shift, and individual prayers can vary, sometimes significantly, from region to region.

Description

One section of a book of hours is known as the Prayers to the Virgin. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, this group of prayers is written in the first person singular, which allowed readers to insert themselves into the prayer. A reader would begin by calling upon the Virgin Mary and Saint John, with whom they would plead, as saints were considered intercessors who could emphasize a supplicant’s faithfulness. Plaintive or urgent in tone, these prayers are considered some of the most moving texts in books of hours. To accompany them, illuminations often show the Virgin and Child or the Pietà, the Virgin cradling the dead body of Jesus after its removal from the cross.
  • Mikhail Petrovich Botkin (1839–1914), St. Petersburg, Russia
    -1951
    Sophie de Enden, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1951-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Collection M.P. Botkine. Saint-Pétersbourg: [éditeur non identifié], 1911. pp. 5-6
    Milliken, William M. “The ‘Pietà’ by Andrea Mantegna.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 7 (September 1952): 172–174. Reproduced: front cover; Mentioned: p. 173 www.jstor.org
    Metzler, Paul B. "Museum Puts Mantegna Work, Newly Acquired, on Exhibition," The Cleveland Plain Dealer (September 7, 1952).
    Art News Vol. 51 (Feb. 1953). pp. 47, 49
    Meiss, Millard. Andrea Mantegna As Illuminator; An Episode in Renaissance Art, Humanism, and Diplomacy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1957. p. 91, footnote 47
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 211 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and William Mathewson Milliken. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. p. 29
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 86 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 86 archive.org
    D'Ancona, Paolo, and E. Aeschlimann. The Art of Illumination: An Anthology of Manuscripts from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century. 1969. p. 231, pl. 137
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 98 archive.org
    Castiglioni, Gino and Sergio Marinelli. Miniatura Veronese del Rinascimento. Verona : Museo di Castelvecchio, 1986. Reproduced: pp. 83-7, III.50
    Alexander, J. J. G. The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination, 1450-1550. Munich: Prestel, 1994. cat. no. 114
    Marinelli, Sergio, Paola Marini, and Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna e le arti a Verona, 1450-1500: Verona, Gran Guardia, 16 settembre 2006-14 gennaio 2007. Venezia: Marsilio, 2006. p. 122, fig. I
    Castiglioni, Gino, and Giordana Mariani Canova. La parola illuminata: per una storia della miniatura a Verona e a Vicenza tra Medioevo e età romantica. 2011. p. 157, V.29
    Alexander, J. J. G. The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy: 1450-1600. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Mentioned: p. 320, no. 199; Reproduced: p. 108
    Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced archive.org
  • The Medieval Top Seller: The Book of Hours. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-July 30, 2023).
    The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination 1450-1550, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, NY (15 February-7 May 1995).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Thine Eyes Shall See, The Brooklyn Museum, New York (1956).
    The World of Miniature Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 20-November 10, 1953).
  • {{cite web|title=Single Leaf from a Book of Hours: Pieta|url=false|author=Francesco dai Libri, Andrea Mantegna|year=c. 1475–85|access-date=15 August 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.394