1427. THE DEAD CHRIST: A PIETÀ.
Hans Baldung (German-Swabian: 1476-1545). See 245.
Signed and dated "Hans Baldung, 1512." The Virgin's attitude is expressive of intense sorrow. "Her mouth is drawn convulsively down in the manner usual in the pictures of Burgkmair and the school and epoch to which he and Baldung belonged. On our right is St. John. Behind the group is Joseph of Arimathea. Behind, God the Father appears, robed in blue under a red mantle, and holding across His knees the drooping corpse of the Redeemer. Clouds form the background, and among them the Holy Ghost is hovering. The heads of all the figures bear plain nimbi of metallic gold. The draperies, except the loin-cloth of Christ, are somewhat tortured in the manner of the German painters of the fifteenth century. On the front of the balcony in which they are placed are depicted the donor and his family; in one corner is their escutcheon, bearing three money bags and a broad bar" (Athenæum, Jan. 11, 1895).