Pieta, 1626, was acquired by Charles II in 1689 at the auction of Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, seventh Marquis of Carpio, who was the Spanish King’s ambassador to Rome and subsequently his viceroy in Naples. In Italy, de Haro patronised numerous artists, becoming the leading private Spanish collector in the second half of the seventeenth century. After the King acquired this work, it was sent to the Alcázar Palace in Madrid, where it survived the fire of 1734 that completely destroyed the building and part of the Royal Collection of paintings. It was later hung in the prayer chapel at the dressing room in Madrid’s new Royal Palace, and from there it entered the Museo del Prado.

This much admired work was rapidly imitated by Spanish painters, who made numerous copies and versions of it. The most outstanding of these was painted in 1647 for an altarpiece at the church of the convent of Augustine nuns in Monterrey, Salamanca. Its author, Jusepe de Ribera, must have seen the original work in Naples before it was sent to Spain. Two drawings of Christ are associated with Crespi’s painting: one, previously attributed to Jacopo Palma the younger (1548-1628), is at the Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti in Bergamo; the other is at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice. Some consider the first to be a preparatory study, while others think it was drawn after the original, with the drawing in Venice being the study.

The compact composition accentuates the lifeless body of Christ cradled by the Virgin, who turns her imploring gaze to heaven. A crying angel appears in the background behind Christ. This delicately crafted work is marked by the complicated torsion of its figures, which adds considerable pathos and reflects the artist’s debt to Giulio Cescare Procaccini (1574-1625), although without the latter’s emotional ambiguity. As is customary in Crespi’s works, the bodies occupy almost the entire canvas. The palette of this work is quite reduced, and the volumes are defined by the chiaroscuro that is the painting’s true subject and serves to emphasise its tragic qualities.

The work’s tenebrist effects are accentuated by the oxidation of its pigments and by an early restoration that resulted in an excess of light in the illuminated areas and an excessively dark background around the figures. Various technical studies have revealed brushstrokes, forms and colours that are no longer visible to the naked eye, including movement and detail in the folds in the Virgin’s robes. Analyses have also made it possible to see differences between the rendering of the main figures and that of the angel, which is depicted with less fluid brushstrokes.

Dominating the scene is the powerful light that shines on Jesus, especially on his arms, legs and the right profile of his body, creating a rectangular scheme that forcefully overpowers the diagonals. The vertical axis running through the Virgin’s face is accentuated by the profile of Christ’s body and contrasts with the horizontality of his left arm and legs, bringing a great sense of stability to the scene. Christ’s anatomy is perfectly depicted, with a clearly classicist approach, and must have been painted from life. Other works by Crespi have similar physiognomies, suggesting a common model, but none has the strength of the present painting.

In 2011 a restoration recovered this work’s original dimensions, which had been altered in the eighteenth century by the addition of strips to all four sides. Those additions had pushed the figures back into the middle ground, lessening their dramatic intensity.