Conservation generously sponsored by The Boston Chapter.

This small painting, likely created for private devotion, depicts the lifeless body of Christ being lifted from the tomb, supported by a cherub and a wingless figure—likely Saint John the Evangelist. The corpse, rendered in a grayish hue to emphasize the mortality of the Son of God, is painted with a striking chiaroscuro effect. Light entering from the left side of the composition accentuates Christ’s muscular torso and sinewy limbs. In contrast, His head—almost entirely cloaked in shadow—rests gently on the cherub’s shoulder, an intimate gesture surely devised by the artist to move and engage the devout viewer in prayerful contemplation. Equally intimate is the posture of Saint John who, in his effort to support and lift Christ by the veiled hip, appears to embrace the lifeless body. In the background, a remarkable landscape unfolds: two large wooden structures emerge from a lush, hilly terrain, while distant blue mountains stand silhouetted against the light of dusk.

The painting appears to be a later reinterpretation of the Man of Sorrows theme. In Venice, the subject was notably developed by Giovanni Bellini, who, on numerous occasions, depicted the dead Christ standing in the tomb, often supported and presented by one or more angels. Over time, the originally rigid, upright figure of Christ was reimagined with greater emotional intensity, evolving into the inclined, lifeless body more characteristic of an Entombment scene. The painting in San Geremia offers a refined example of the later evolution of the Imago Pietatis and eloquently reflects its intended function as a devotional image meant to inspire contemplation and prayer.

The authorship of the painting remains a matter of debate. It is currently attributed to Polidoro da Lanciano, a painter from the Abruzzo region who settled in Venice in the early 1530s and was influenced by Titian and, notably, by Titian’s brother, Francesco Vecellio. During an inspection to assess the painting’s conservation status, a label was discovered on the reverse side, dating to 1994 and attributing the work to Domenico Campagnola—a painter also deeply influenced by Titian. This alternative attribution was likely based on compositional and stylistic similarities to landscapes created by Campagnola around 1517, such as Two Kneeling Youths in a Landscape, a drawing housed at the British Museum in London, or the engraving Shepherds in a Landscape.

A third hypothesis, however, also deserves consideration. Certain features of the painting strongly recall a group of works by an unidentified 16th-century artist, variously associated with either Francesco Vecellio or Stefano Cernotto, himself a pupil of Titian. Particularly reminiscent of Francesco’s style is the face of Saint John: his long, straight nose, elongated eyebrows, and a lock of glossy hair tucked behind the ear evoke the figure of Saint Theodore in his organ door shutters for the Venetian church of San Salvador, restored by Save Venice in 1994. At the same time, the landscape—with its fanciful architecture and softly diffused light—reappears in the background of Saint Theodore, as well as in several paintings recently attributed to Cernotto. These include Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine at the Pinacoteca Civica in Vicenza, and The Finding of Moses at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna. It is hoped that conservation work and scientific analysis will help clarify this intriguing attributional question.

The painted surface is obscured by a thick, yellowed layer of varnish that significantly dulls its visual impact. Numerous areas of pictorial integration from earlier conservation treatments are clearly visible. These interventions—distinguished by discolored tones, either darkened or yellowed—are thick and opaque, likely concealing sections of the original paint layer. They are particularly evident in the flesh tones of both angels and across the body of Christ. The rocky background also appears heavily reworked, with uneven applications of pigment and varnish, most likely introduced during a previous restoration campaign.

Polidoro da Lanciano (c. 1510 – 1565) [attr.]
Dead Christ Supported by an Angel and Saint John the Evangelist
1530s, oil on canvas
82 x 80 cm

Lucco, Mauro. “Occultato nell’ombra di Bonifacio Veronese: disvelamento di Stefano Cernotto.” In Artibus et Historiae, 34, 68 (2013): 165-201

Mancini, Vincenzo. Polidoro da Lanciano. Lanciano: R. Carabba, 2001

Matino, Gabriele. “Save Venice e Tiziano. Cinquant’anni tra restauro e storia dell’arte.” In Studi Tizianeschi, 12 (2022): 111-130

Trentini, Francesco. Lanciano (da), Polidoro. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 84. Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 2015, ad vocem. Link to the article