17th-century antique copper painting - Mary with Christ -

This copper engraving represents the Pietà, heavily inspired by the famous composition of the 16th-century Spanish painter Luis de Morales, nicknamed "El Divino" due to the essentially religious nature of his subjects. The Virgin Mary painfully supports the lifeless face and body of Jesus Christ. The strong contrasts of shadow and light (chiaroscuro), the dramatic intensity of the faces, and the elongated shape of the hands and fingers are distinctive features of Luis de Morales's style. The artist and his workshop created numerous variations of this composition, preserved today in important collections such as the Prado Museum and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Given the immense popularity of this model in the following centuries (notably in the 17th century), the work could be a later reinterpretation by a European painting school. Of great pictorial quality. Dimensions: 16 X 13 cm.