Rare Italian Renaissance 16th Century Bronze Plaque “The Lamentation of Christ"

THE LAMENTATION OVER THE DEAD CHRIST
Probably Milan, late 16th century

Bronze with partial gilding, silvering, extensive tooling and inlaid silver studs

7 3/4" H x 6" W

A finely cast Italian Renaissance bronze relief depicting the Lamentation over the body of Christ. The dead Christ lies diagonally across the foreground, surrounded by the Virgin, Saint John, Mary Magdalene and additional mourners. Behind them rise the three crosses of Calvary, a ladder and a distant view of Jerusalem.

The composition belongs to a well documented group of Renaissance reliefs known in a number of casts and related to a companion Adoration of the Shepherds. The model was in circulation by the third quarter of the sixteenth century. An example of the Lamentation in the Musei Civici d'Arte Antica at Ferrara bears the foundry mark of Santo or Joseph de Levis and the date 1577 (1, fig. 1). The most closely related cast is in the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Art, an example attributed as Emilian circa 1590 (3) with identical inlaid silver studded decoration to the garments of figures throughout together with gilding absent in the present model. The companion to this work is held in the permanent collection of the Walters Art Museum (4) attributed with some hesitation to Gian Federigo Bonzagna (Italian, 1508- after 1586). The work held in the collection of the Walters is particularly interesting as it is one of the finest renditions of this model known and is also dated on the underside of a column in the lower portion of the scene "1561", giving some clue to when this cast would have been circulating.

An in-depth and illuminating look at these two plaques and their influences is examined at length by Michael Riddick in his long-form article (1) discussing them and comparing elements from both casts to contemporaries working in Spain and Italy. He proposes an attribution of the works to the workshop or circle of Giovan Antonio Polacini, the Milanese armorer and embosser. He also draws light on the exchange of artistic influence between Iberian and Italian artists working in numerous materials, and interestingly notes that the exact same foreground is found in a wood carving by Bartolome Ordonez ca. 1518-19 working in Barcelona, Spain (1, fig. 6).

Condition: Later frame. Rubbing wear to the patina. Grime and accretion in the crevices and tarnish to the silvered bronze elements.

Reference:
(1) An Adoration and Lamentation of Iberian-Italian Origin, Riddick, 2020
(2) National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection, acc. no. 1942.9.221
(3) Detroit Institute of Art, acc. no. 24.77
(4) Walters Art Museum, acc. no. 54.229

ref. 606PDW25X