Jacques Bellange; Pieta; 1615; etching and engraving on paper; 12 1/8 in. x 7 3/4 in. (30.8 cm x 19.69 cm); The French etcher Jacques Bellange belongs to the very last stages of Mannerism.His emotionally charged Piet脿 owes its form to Michelangelo's presentation drawing for Vittoria Colonna; which was copied and widely disseminated through prints. Bellange conveys feelings of loss and grief through beautiful and highly artificial bodily forms. Christ's smooth; muscular body sways in a gentle S-curve as he is supported between his mother's strong knees. Mary's legs and arms are swathed in ballooning drapery. As if overcome by faintness; the Virgin Mary tilts her head upward toward heaven; exposing her long elegantly curving throat. The delicately tapering fingers of her right hand spread in a graceful gesture favored by Mannerists鈥攖he index finger held apart from the others.In contrast; the fingers of her limp left hand swell at the knuckles into sausage-like appendages.