Mater Dolorosa
by TIZIANO Vecellio, Oil on marble, 68 x 53 cm
Paintings showing the grieving Virgin were popular devotional images. This Mater Dolorosa with outstretched hands was painted in 1553-54 as the counterpart of Ecce Homo, which Titian painted for the emperor in 1548. It was was commissioned by Mary of Hungary, the elder sister of Emperor Charles V.