Lamentation Over the Dead Christ
Lamentation Over the Dead Christ
- Artist
- Bernardino Luini
- Artist Dates
- c. 1480-1532
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Lamentation Over the Dead Christ
- Date
- c. 1512-20
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 87.2 x 60.2 cm (34-3/8 x 23-5/8 in)
- K Number
- K1764
- Repository
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- Accession Number
- 61.68
- Notes
Provenance
Duca Barromeo Monti, Milan, no. 303 in the inventory of 1830. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Rome-Florence); sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation on 1 July 1950; gift 1961 to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, no. 61.68.
Catalogue Entry
Bernardino Luini
Lamentation Over the Dead Christ
K1764
Houston, Tex., Museum of Fine Arts (61-67), since 1953.(1) Wood. 33 7/8 x 23 3/4 in. (86.1 x 60.3 cm.). Fair condition; abraded in flesh tones; cleaned 1950. Little known to Luini specialists until recently, K1764 would seem to be of special importance in the artist's oeuvre, since the composition is unusually original (note especially the small angel at lower left) and the quality of execution superior. It is assigned a date about 1515, preceding slightly the artist's Pieta, or Crowning with Thorns, in the Church of San Giorgio al Palazzo, Milan, of 1516.(2) The coloring has been noted as related to Solario's and the central motive of the composition is paralleled with that of a small painting by Borgognone in the Cagnola Collection, Milan.(3) The figure at upper left in K1764 is probably to be interpreted as John the Evangelist rather than, as has been suggested,(4) a fourth holy woman. Provenance: Borromeo Monti, Milan (no. 303 of the inventory of 1830).(5) Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1950.
References
(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1953, no. 12, as Luini. (2) K1764 is dated c. 1515 in Luini's oeuvre by Suida (loc. cit. in note 1, above), and A. Ottino della Chiesa (Bernardino Luini, 1956, pp. 21 f., 77, emphasizing the importance of the picture). R. Longhi (in ms. opinion) dates it too late in Luini's career, 1525/30. (3) See citations of Suida and Ottino della Chiesa in notes 1 and 2, above. (4) By Suida, loc. cit. in note 1, above. (5) This source is cited by a note in the archives of the Kress Foundation.