Explore the Description of this artwork, Pietà (Perugino).
The  scene of the Pietà was depicted by Perugino under a portico, a typical theme of his art in the 1480s and 1490s (used for example in the Albani-Torlonia Polyptych of the Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian). The serene landscape with light trees is also common in his paintings of the period.
Such as in the German Vesperbilder, Jesus's body is horizontal and quite rigid, also held by John the Evangelist on the left and Mary Magdalene on the right. At the sides are further saints, a young one (Nicodemus) on the left, with the hands joined in his chest, and an aged one (Joseph of Arimathea) on the right, looking down.
The use of less pale tonalities for Mary Magdalene is similar to that used by Luca Signorelli at the time.
Vesperbild Madonna with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian Albani-Torlonia Polyptych left Pietà Perugino Luca Signorelli