Physical description
In this Lamentation, the Virgin supports the body of Christ on her knees. The three other mourning figures may be Mary Magdalene (on the left), and St John the Evangelist (on the right). Behind the central group are two mourning women facing outwards, one on the right tearing her hair, and the other on the left with her head buried in her hands. The surface of the bronze is unevenly worked. The background has been cut away in places.
Place of Origin
Florence, Italy (made)
Date
ca. 1455-1460 (made)
Artist/maker
Donatello, born 1386 - died 1466 (sculptor)
Materials and Techniques
Bronze in high relief
Dimensions
Height: 32.1 cm, Width: 41.7 cm, Depth: 6.3 cm, Weight: 5.64 kg
Object history note
The original purpose of this relief is not known, and various theories have been advanced about its place and date of manufacture. It is widely accepted to be by Donatello.
It was perhaps a test piece for the doors of Siena Cathedral, an unfinished project on which Donatello was working in 1457-9. The Cathedral inventory of 1639 lists a bronze demonstration panel of approximately this size. Pope-Hennessy rejects this theory on stylistic grounds, suggesting that it is more likely to have been made immediately before Donatello's time in Padua (1443-53). He proposes that its drapery, types and relief style are similar to that on the bronze doors of the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo, Florence, completed before 1443. Antony Radcliffe remarked on the similarity of the drapery forms to those shown on the Chellini roundel (A.1-1976), which he suggested might support a later date for the present relief after Donatello's return from Padua.
The background has been cut away after casting in places. Pope-Hennessy asserted that "the removal of the background was presumably occasioned by casting flaws", but many of the gaps correspond to the outlines of the figures in too deliberate a way to make this likely to be the sole reason for cutting away. Nicholas Penny has suggested that the gaps may have been intended to allow a background of coloured cloth or stone to show through.
Descriptive line
Relief, bronze, Lamentation Over The Dead Christ, by Donatello, Florence, Italy, ca.1455-60.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Pope-Hennessy, John, assisted by Lightbown, Ronald. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: HMSO, 1964. Cat. 63, pp. 75-6
Radcliffe, Anthony. Entry in catalogue to the exhibition Italian renaissance sculpture in the time of Donatello. Detroit Institute of Art, 1985, cat. 32
Bennett, Bonnie A, and Wilkins, David G. Donatello. Oxford 1984, pp. 98-100, notes 6-8, fig. 99.
Penny, Nicholas. 'Non-finito in Italian Fifteenth-Century Bronze Sculpture'. In: La Scultura: Studi in Onore di Andrew S. Ciechanowiecki, Antologia di Belle Arti, 1994, pp. 11-15.
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1863 In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 35
Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 100
Avery, Charles. Donatello. Catalogo Completo delle Opere. Florence, 1991, p. 136, cat.no.78
Draper, Janus David. Bertoldo di Giovanni - Sculptor of the Medici Household. Columbia, 1992, p. 31, note 31
Pope-Hennessy, John. Donatello: Sculptor. New York, 1993, pp.192, 296-98, 302-304, 311-313, 338n, 350n
Avery, Charles. Donatello, an Introduction. New York 1994, pp. 98, 100
Pope-Hennessy, John. Donatello. Berlin 1986, pp. 228-229
Rosenauer. Artur. Donatello. Milan 1993, pp. 258, 260, 289, 297
Poeschke, J. Die Skulptur der Renaissance in Italien, Band I. Donatello und seine Zeit, Munich, 1990, pp. 119, 177, pl. 138
Bellosi, Luciano (ed.). Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500. Exhibition Catalogue, Milan 1993, p. 24, cat. 21, pp. 182-185
Seymour Jr., Charles Sculpture in Italy 1400-1500 Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1966. p. 144
Bober, P. P. and Rubinstein, R. O. Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture, a Handbook of Sources. Oxford, 1986, p. 146
Exhibition History
Renaissance Siena: Art for a City (National Gallery (London) 24/10/2007-13/01/2008)
Depth of Field: the Place of Relief in the Time of Donatello (Henry Moore Institute, Leeds 23/09/2004-27/03/2005)
Seeing Salvation: The Image of Christ (National Gallery (London) 26/02/2000-07/05/2000)
Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500 (Sant'Agostino church, Siena 24/04/1993-05/09/1993)
Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the time of Donatello (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas 22/02/1086-27/04/1986)
Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the time of Donatello (Detroit Institute of Arts 23/10/1985-05/01/1986)
Materials
Bronze
Techniques
High relief
Subjects depicted
Mary Magdalene (Saint); St. John; Christ; Mary; Lamentation
Categories
Metalwork; Sculpture; Religion; Christianity
Collection code
SCP
