{
"data": {
"id": 162306,
"accession_number": "2002.4",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Piet\u00e0, c. 1460. Southern Germany, Swabia, 15th century. Woodcut, hand colored with watercolor; sheet: 38.7 x 28.8 cm (15 1/4 x 11 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Trust, 2002.4",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Piet\u00e0",
"creation_date": "c. 1460",
"creation_date_earliest": 1455,
"creation_date_latest": 1465,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Southern Germany, Swabia, 15th century"
],
"technique": "woodcut, hand colored with watercolor",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "laid paper",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Woodcut",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Sheet: 38.7 x 28.8 cm (15 1/4 x 11 5/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.387,
"height_inch": 15,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"width": 0.288,
"width_inch": 11,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 184690,
"title": "Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection",
"description": "Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).",
"opening_date": "2003-08-17T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 204986,
"title": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2014-03-09T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "[Sotheby's, London, June 27th, 1988, lot 65]; [N.G. Stogdon, London, German and Netherlandish Woodcuts of the 15th and 16th Centuries, 1991, cat. no 1]; Idemitsu Corporation Museum, Tokyo; [Christie's, London, July 3, 2001, lot 31], bought by N.G. Stogdon and Bob Light",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "In this single-leaf woodcut, Mary\u2019s left hand engages her headscarf in a gesture known as the tuchlein-geste, an act anticipating the wiping away of tears.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Early woodcuts usually illustrate religious subjects for the spiritual edification and contemplative meditation of a mostly illiterate public. Produced by anonymous craftsmen, these simple, direct images facilitated an intimate dialogue between the individual and the holy figure depicted.
Here, a youthful Virgin Mary delicately embraces her dead son\u2019s body, with its hand-colored flesh and drops of blood. Behind her, the wooden cross displays the Instruments of the Passion of Christ: two nails, the crown of thorns, and two scourges. By stressing the humanity of Mary\u2019s grief over her son\u2019s suffering and death, the print encourages an empathetic response from the beholder.
This piet\u00e0 was probably inspired by sculptures of the subject, common in Germany. Printed on a full sheet of paper, the image was hand colored with watercolor. Remnants of adhesive on the verso and holes caused by insects suggest that it was pasted inside the cover of a book, which preserved it. There are only about 20 northern single-image woodcuts extant. Extraordinary in its large size, fresh color, and good state of preservation, this sheet is the only known impression of the image.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79986302"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2002.4-pieta"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Glaubinger, Jane. \"Against the Grain.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 43, no. 7 (September 2003): 8-9.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 8",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2003-07/page/n7/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "\"Major Acquisitions 2000-2005.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-17.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 15",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-06/page/6/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 346",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Glaubinger, Jane and Lemonedes, Heather. \u201cTreasures on Paper: The Cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of the museum\u2019s prints and drawings collection is now on view.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 6-9.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 6",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-02"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.4",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.4/2002.4_web.jpg",
"width": "653",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "526811",
"filename": "2002.4_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.4/2002.4_print.jpg",
"width": "2488",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "7352034",
"filename": "2002.4_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.4/2002.4_full.tif",
"width": "4539",
"height": "6203",
"filesize": "84503392",
"filename": "2002.4_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Severance and Greta Millikin Trust",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 162306,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2002-03-04T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1455,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1460",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-08-21 12:43:19.413000"
}
}