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The painting originates from Kassa.
This representation of the Man of Sorrows ("Imago Pietatis") is clearly intended for devotional purposes. It is completely detached from the events of the Passion. The intention, as in the Pietá, was to elicit sympathy for the sufferings of Christ among the faithful of the Middle Ages. As in thirteenth century Byzantine icons, the Man of Sorrows is depicted standing in a sarcophagus, crowned with thorns and displaying his wounds, while the Virgin caresses him gently, expressing her feelings by placing her cheek on that of her Son. The two angels in the background holding the brocade curtain are reminiscent of "angel Pietá" scenes, while the elaborate raised and gilded gesso of the frame and background are similar to those seen on the devotional Virgin pictures (Liptónádasd, Kassa).
The panel in the Hungarian National Gallery is one of the finest examples of a type of painting which in the fifteenth century was popular throughout Europe. Other panels most closely akin to it are of Polish origin an come from Iwanowice, Biecz, Zbylitowska Góra and Ószandec. The style, seen in the realistic, stiff folds of the draperies, shows the influence of the Passion scenes painted for the high altar in Kassa in 1470.
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