Pieta

Normally I would not be posting a drawing after I had only been working on it for less than a week, but I can see that I am going to need lots of helpful hints from the icon experts among my readers in order to complete this one.

It was only recently that I even started to wonder if there was anything like the Pieta in the icon tradition.

For those of you who might not be certain what I am talking about when I say Pieta, it is the following sculpture by Michelangelo which resides at the Vatican.

I had never recalled seeing an icon depicting this moment of the passion but when a friend happened to ask that very question, I set about doing my research.

And, the answer is yes. There are a few -- some called "Lamentation" and others actually called "Pieta".

I finally found one that I thought I could work from. There were several problems, however. The image was landscape, not portrait in orientation. The Blessed Mother and Her Son were in a crowd of people and the body of Christ was stretched out full length on a slab.

As you can see, I chose to work with the two main figures in a portrait orientation which meant that I could show only the upper half of Christ's body. My plan is that if I can find a way to make things work this way, I will then re-do the drawing showing the figures of Jesus and Mary as they are in the original icon.

So, this is a project I am just getting started on and I will be hoping for lots of input from all of you.

Otherwise, I am still downloading files. It feels like a never-ending task -- especially when I accidentally put a whole batch of them in the wrong place and had to start all over again!

I hope neither you nor your loved ones are suffering because of the weather. Peace be with you all.