Oil Painting, 'The Entombment', after Federico Barocci, early18th century

The body of Christ in the middle of the composition is carried by Joseph of Arimathea at his head, turbaned Nicodemus and the young St John the Evangelist; Mary Magdalene is kneeling in the foreground and seen from the back while the Virgin and the other Mary are mourning in the back of the scene. In the background are a mountainous landscape and a Renaissance towered castle.

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons, 1870
John Meeson Parsons (1798-1870), art collector, was born in Newport, Shropshire. He later settled in London, and became a member of the stock exchange. His interest in railways led to his election as an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1839, and he was director or chairman of two railway companies between 1843 and 1848. Much of his time however was spent collecting pictures and works of art. In his will he offered his collection of mostly German and Dutch schools to the National Gallery (which selected only three works) and to the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington, later the Victoria and Albert Museum. The South Kensington Museum acquired ninety-two oil paintings and forty-seven watercolours. A number of engravings were also left to the British Museum.

Historical significance: This is a much reduced copy, probably of 18th century date, of Federico Barocci's altarpiece, executed between 1579 and 1582 for the Confraternità della Croce e Sagramento at Senigallia. Barocci's Entombment was itself partly derived from Raphael's depiction of the same subject (Galleria Borghese, Rome).

The original painting is arched at the top and displays the instruments of the Passion to the bottom left, two features which are missing from the present, rectangular copy. A number of drawings and engravings are associated with the original painting (see Olsen, 1962, pp. 170-2), some with minor variations. The top of the present work seems to have been trimmed, as the bottoms of the three crosses are visible, cut-off in the middle. The present copy attempts with limited success to imitate Barocci's vibrant and acidic palette, and his characteristic misty forms.

Federico Barocci (ca.1535-1612) was born in Urbino and trained under Franco Battista (ca. 1510-1561). In the mid-1550s, he travelled to Rome and Central Italy, where he saw the work of Raphael and, perhaps, the frescoes of Correggio. He enjoyed rapid success, and became one of the most influential artists in Italy. His patrons included the Pope, Emperor, King of Spain and Grand Duke of Tuscany, as well as Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. The naturalism and soft, painterly nature of his style distinguishes him from his Mannerist contemporaries. His admirers included Annibale Carracci, Rubens and Guido Reni.

The subject of the Entombment of Christ derives from the Gospels of John (19-20), Matthew, (27), Luke (23) and Mark (15), and was common from the 10th century, traditionally following the Deposition and Lamentation and preceding the Resurrection.

In Italy a new type of altarpiece, known as pala,, appeared in the 15th-century. This represented an unified space on a single panel, and was universally adopted by the 16th century. The religious reforms of the Counter Reformation restricted the subject-matter of the altarpiece to biblical subjects suited to the sacrament celebrated at the altar, and the dynamic qualities that characterize Baroque art brought important changes to altarpiece design.

Federico Barocci (ca.1535-1612) was born in Urbino and trained under Franco Battista (ca. 1510-1561). In the mid-1550s, he travelled to Rome and central Italy where he admired Raphael's oeuvre and perhaps Correggio's frescoes. He had quite a quick success, his patrons including the Pope, Emperor, King of Spain and Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his admirers counting, among others, Lodovico Cigoli, Annibale Carracci, Rubens and Guido Reni. At the end of his life, Barocci had a sizeable estate, including a studio full of cartoons, drawings and unfinished pictures that upon his death attracted the immediate interest of collectors and artists.

This painting is a copy after Barocci's altarpiece, The Entombment in S. Croce, Senigallia, that belongs to Barocci's mature period when he produced a series of more traditional altarpieces that emphasize emotional restraint, simplicity and order. The Christ body is carried by Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and St John the Evangelist as a young man, while the figure of Mary Magdalene is slightly isolated in the foreground and therefore emphasised.

534-1870