Pieta Painting 17th Century Virgin From Las Angustias De Granada

Subject: Pieta, Virgin of the Angustias of GranadaSupport: Oil on canvasDimensions: 57 x 45 cmPeriod: 17th centuryCondition: very good condition, has been restored and relinedThe Virgin of Angustias shows the body of her son on the altar to the faithful. This image is framed by the cross from which a shroud hangs. The representation of the Virgin of Angustias is similar to that of La Piedad, but in the case of the patron saint of Granada, her image does not follow the moment when Mary receives the body of her son. Given the importance given to religious images in the Hispanic world, during the 17th and 18th centuries, ambitious pictorial series and extensive iconographic programs were created for churches and convents, as well as engravings, medals, and reliquaries for private devotion. Taken together, regardless of their size or medium, these images fulfill the goal of sanctifying everyday life beyond the altars. Within this vast repertoire, we highlight painted replicas of a specific devotional sculpture, whether of Christ or a Virgin, which technically recreate its original location in addition to showing the figure in question. These painted copies were called "true portraits" or vera efigie, an artistic phenomenon of prolific production in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the European metropolis. They are oil canvases, painted with great detail and with a realistic intention. These paintings were intended to make the viewer believe that they were in the presence of the effigy itself. In a historical sense, we understand painted replicas as a means of emotionally replacing religious feeling in the absence of the original sculpture.