Man of Sorrows

Niccolò di Tommaso's Man of Sorrows, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, belongs to the devotional image type that became profoundly important in the wake of the Black Death of 1348. Depicting the dead or suffering Christ displaying his wounds, the Man of Sorrows was designed to inspire compassio — the viewer's empathetic participation in Christ's suffering. Niccolò, a follower of Nardo di Cione active in Florence and Naples, painted this around 1370 during a period of intensified penitential piety across Europe.

Egg tempera on panel with gold ground, presenting Christ in half-length with visible wounds and crossed arms in the standard Imago Pietatis format. The restrained palette and austere composition focus devotional attention on the suffering body, with green earth underpainting visible in the flesh shadows.