Flemish school; 17th century.

Flemish school; XVII century.
"Pietà".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 165 x 124 cm; 184 x 143 cm (frame).
This work belongs to the Flemish school of the seventeenth century and clearly follows the famous model of The Pietà by Anton van Dyck preserved in the Museo del Prado (P001475), one of the most influential formulations of the subject in the European Baroque. The composition reproduces the essential scheme devised by the Flemish master: the Virgin holds the lifeless body of Christ in a pyramidal arrangement, marked by an intense emotional dialogue between the figures and by the restrained elegance of gesture and attitude.
From the stylistic point of view, the work reveals a mature assimilation of the Vandyckian language, characterized by the nobility of the figures, the softness of the modeling and the expressive delicacy of the faces. However, compared to the Prado version, this painting opts for a noticeably darker and more closed palette, with a predominance of earthy tones, browns and deep blacks, which intensify the drama of the scene and reinforce the atmosphere of recollection and contained pain. Chiaroscuro is used effectively to highlight the bodies against a neutral and somber background, concentrating the viewer's attention on the main group.
The pictorial quality can be appreciated in the treatment of Christ's anatomy, resolved with naturalism and subtlety, and in the care with which the cloths are described, with wide and fluid folds, which envelop the figures without detracting from the emotional expression. The brushstroke, although less refined than in Van Dyck's autograph work, shows technical security and a solid knowledge of the resources of Flemish Baroque, especially in the gradation of light and in the transition of the flesh tones.
On the iconographic level, the Pietà is presented as an image of intense devotional charge, destined to arouse compassion and meditation on the sacrifice of Christ and the pain of the Virgin. The serenity of the Marian face, more resigned than torn, responds to an ideal of spiritualized beauty, heir to both the Flemish tradition and the postulates of the Counter-Reformation, which sought a deep but controlled emotion. The body of Christ, abandoned and heavy, acts as the visual and symbolic axis of the composition, underlining the humanity of the Redeemer.
The relationship with Van Dyck's model should not be understood as a mere copy, but as a reinterpretation within a different devotional context, probably adapted to the taste of a client who favored a more austere and somber atmosphere. This type of version was widely disseminated in the seventeenth century, contributing decisively to the expansion of the Vandyckian language throughout Europe.