Predella of Stories of Christ: 2. Pietà

religious

The predella of the main altarpiece of the church of San Giovanni di Monte in Bologna consisted of three pieces, the Prayer in the Garden, and the Road to Calvary at the sides and a Piet in the middle. The painting invokes a motif of Rogier van der Weyden and is an example of melting together the Flemish and Italian (Mantegna, Tura, Giovanni Bellini) approches to express religious feelings.

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About the Artist

Ercole de' Roberti

1456 – 1494

Italian painter, active mainly in Ferrara. He succeeded Cosmè Tura as court painter to the Este in 1486, but little is known of his life. Earlier he appears to have assisted Frencesco Cossa for some years, and with Cossa and Tura he ranks as the leading artist of the 15th century Ferrarese school. The only picture reasonably certainly his is the altarpiece with a Madonna Enthroned with Saints (1480) painted for Santa Maria in Porto at Ravenna and now in the Brera, Milan. Other works, however, can be confidently given to him because of his distinctive style.

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