Pietà and Lamentation: Themes of Compassion in Cummer Collection
Thursday, January 7 | 7 p.m.

Learn from home! Cummer Beaches presents a three-part virtual lecture series with P. Scott Brown, PhD, Professor of Art History, University of North Florida. Experience this series of talks highlighting a selection of works in the Cummer Museum’s permanent collection. Registration is free but is required. A Zoom link for access will be sent to all registrants the week of the lecture.

Images of the Pietà and Lamentation are among the most moving and powerful works of art in the Museum’s collection, and they include some of the Museum’s masterpieces of late medieval and Renaissance art. These works aim to stir the feelings of the viewer, to pierce to heart, to arouse compassion. Compassion is literally the feeling of “suffering with” another. The history of this theme and its development in late medieval art and culture offer matter for reflection on the values of empathy and understanding in our own time and society.