The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 17, 2026

Pietà

c. 1460

Southern Germany, Swabia, 15th century

woodcut, hand colored with watercolor
Sheet: 38.7 x 28.8 cm (15 1/4 x 11 5/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust 2002.4
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In this single-leaf woodcut, Mary’s left hand engages her headscarf in a gesture known as the tuchlein-geste, an act anticipating the wiping away of tears.

Description

Early woodcuts usually illustrate religious subjects for the spiritual edification and contemplative meditation of a mostly illiterate public. Produced by anonymous craftsmen, these simple, direct images facilitated an intimate dialogue between the individual and the holy figure depicted.

Here, a youthful Virgin Mary delicately embraces her dead son’s body, with its hand-colored flesh and drops of blood. Behind her, the wooden cross displays the Instruments of the Passion of Christ: two nails, the crown of thorns, and two scourges. By stressing the humanity of Mary’s grief over her son’s suffering and death, the print encourages an empathetic response from the beholder.

This pietà was probably inspired by sculptures of the subject, common in Germany. Printed on a full sheet of paper, the image was hand colored with watercolor. Remnants of adhesive on the verso and holes caused by insects suggest that it was pasted inside the cover of a book, which preserved it. There are only about 20 northern single-image woodcuts extant. Extraordinary in its large size, fresh color, and good state of preservation, this sheet is the only known impression of the image.
  • [Sotheby's, London, June 27th, 1988, lot 65]; [N.G. Stogdon, London, German and Netherlandish Woodcuts of the 15th and 16th Centuries, 1991, cat. no 1]; Idemitsu Corporation Museum, Tokyo; [Christie's, London, July 3, 2001, lot 31], bought by N.G. Stogdon and Bob Light
  • Glaubinger, Jane. "Against the Grain." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 43, no. 7 (September 2003): 8-9. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 8 archive.org
    "Major Acquisitions 2000-2005." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-17. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 15 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 346
    Glaubinger, Jane and Lemonedes, Heather. “Treasures on Paper: The Crème de la crème of the museum’s prints and drawings collection is now on view.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 6-9. Mentioned: p. 6 archive.org
  • Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Pietà|url=false|author=|year=c. 1460|access-date=17 January 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2002.4