Lamentation Over The Dead Christ Italian School Early 16th Century. Tempera On Panel

Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Italian School

Early 16th century

Painting on wooden panel.

Dimensions: 51 × 71 cm (panel)
Dimensions with frame: 89 × 71 cm

The painting belongs to the Italian tradition of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, when the themes of the Lamentation and the Pietà were widely explored in devotional imagery. Christ is supported by the Virgin and accompanied by Saint John and the holy women, following compositional models commonly shared at the turn of the century.

The restrained expressiveness of the figures recalls the language of Pietro Perugino (Città della Pieve, c. 1450 – Fontignano, 1523), grounded in balance and formal clarity. The firmer modelling of Christ’s body, perceptible in its sense of weight and structure, points at the same time to an awareness of Luca Signorelli’s approach to anatomy and corporeal presence.

In the background, an idealised landscape, framed by rocky outcrops, opens onto distant views, extending the composition into a space of Renaissance equilibrium and harmony.

The panel was previously owned and presented by the Galleria Zabert, where it was identified as a work by Costantino di Jacopo Zelli. This identification is cited here as a historical and bibliographic reference and is approached with appropriate scholarly caution.

The painting is presented in a 19th-century frame in Renaissance style, well proportioned and consistent with the character of the work.