Relief, the Lamentation, painted and gilt pinewood, Toledo, Spain, ca. 1560-70

Painted and gilt pinewood relief depicting the Lamentation. The relief has an integral bevelled frame. In the centre the dead Christ is supported by the Virgin and St John. One of the holy women is in the background. To the right are St Mary Magdalene, kneeling and another Mary. Standing separately at either end of the composition are (left) Nicodemus, holding pincers, and (right) Joseph of Arimathaea, holding the crown of thorns and the shroud. The figures are set on a rocky ground, which protrudes into the frame at the sides, as do the heads at the top. This piece displays its original polychromy, although the colours have faded and changed tonally, probably due to surface dirt, as well as varnish and wax being applied as a protective layer. The technique of 'esgrafiado', the application of gold under colour, which is then scratched through, has been employed over much of the surface.

Bought by John Charles Robinson from Vincente de pablo, Toledo for £3 3s. 2d.

This small relief was probably part of a predella on an altarpiece, and may well have been made in Toledo. Its Italianate qualities suggest it could be by a sculptor working in the wake of the painter-sculptor Gaspar Becerra (1520-1568), who had spent a number of years in Rome, and Juan Bautista Vázquez the Elder (1510-1588).

106-1864