Workshop Of Titian Vecelio (pieve Di Cadore, 1488 – Venice, 1576), Deposition

Workshop of Titian Vecelio (Pieve di Cadore, 1488 – Venice, 1576)

Deposition

Oil on canvas, 119 x 145 cm – with frame, 145 x 173 cm

This Deposition represents one of the most expressive summits and subjects of greatest commercial success born from the genius of Titian and his famous Venetian workshop. The scene is set in a dark and intimate space, dominated by the lifeless body of Christ being placed in the tomb, according to a composition with a strong dramatic and devotional impact. The light, concentrated on the bodies and faces, emerges from a dark and undefined background, accentuating the pathos of the event and guiding the viewer's gaze along a strongly diagonal construction. The body of Christ, pale and lifeless, is supported by the figures of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who, with measured gestures but charged with physical and moral tension, accompany his descent into the tomb. Joseph of Arimathea is placed at the feet of Christ, while Nicodemus supports his torso and head. Around the body of Christ gathers a group of grieving figures, among whom the Virgin and Mary Magdalene stand out for their emotional intensity. The Virgin holds her son's inert arm, a gesture of profound humanity and pain that is not directly reflected in the Gospels, but which is instead mentioned in Pietro Aretino's The Four Books of the Humanity of Christ, published in Venice in 1538. Titian follows Aretino not only in this iconographic detail, but also in the distribution of the figures: Nicodemus at the head of Christ, Joseph of Arimathea at the feet, while in the center are the Virgin, Saint John and Mary Magdalene, creating a compact nucleus of intertwined affections and gestures. The theme of the Deposition occupies a central role in Titian's production and in the fortune of his workshop. The first version created by the master is the one now preserved in the Louvre Museum, and is the one most directly responsible for the composition of Raphael's Deposition preserved in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The substantial difference between this first version and the subsequent ones lies in the choice of narrative moment: in the Louvre painting Titian represents the translation of the body of Christ, while in the later versions –as also in the case of the work described here – the moment of the actual deposition inside the tomb is depicted. In 1557 Titian sent Philip II of Spain a Deposition with half-length figures, but it was lost during the journey. Two years later the painter made up for the loss by creating a new painting of the same subject, larger in size and with full figures: this version is the one now preserved at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The painting was shipped to Spain along with two other famous paintings, Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon. In the following years, a further version of the Deposition was created, also sent to Spain to enter the personal collection of Antonio Pérez, secretary to Philip II. Another important testimony to the success of this model is the painting that belonged to the collection of Federico Borromeo, which remained in Milan and is now exhibited at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, whose composition closely resembles that of the Madrid versions. The spatial construction of the work is characterised by the diagonal perspective of the tomb, a motif that finds a precise antecedent in the relief created around 1500 by Jacopo Sansovino for the door of the Sacristy of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. Christ's inert arm, abandoned with elegant naturalness, derives from an ancient model, the so-called Polykleitos Bed, a Roman relief that Titian reworks with great plastic sensitivity.