18th century, Lamentation over the Dead Christ

early eighteenth century

Lamentation over the dead Christ

Oil on slate, 37,5 x 23,5 cm

With frame, 52 x 39 cm

The work described here presents unique elements starting from the support chosen to represent it: a calcareous stone such as slate, or blackish slate, which is naturally divided into thin slabs but is still easy to work and smooth for similar uses. The use of stone supports, including marble, was already in use among the ancients but over time and especially for reasons of transportability and weight it was no longer used with the same frequency. In Veneto, and especially in Verona, there was an increase in painting on slate between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so much so that even great masters such as Titian, Leandro Bassano and Sebastiano del Piombo tried their hand at this type of support. In the Veronese area we have the example of Giovanni Battista Amigazzi (1589-1651), but there are many works painted on stone that are preserved in city museums, such as Palazzo Maffei or the Castelvecchio Museum. The desire to imitate painting on stone supports deriving from the ancients, the ability to retain color, as well as that of preserving as best as possible from chromatic sinking and finally the extreme nobility of the materials convinced the Venetian artists to opt for this type of material. The scene of the Lamentation is revealed with extreme tragedy, both in the poses and in the expressions of Christ and the Virgin as she looks at the divine light coming from above. The background and the ground are realized in a range of grays that enhance and focus the attention of the spectator on the colors of the flesh and the draperies, made even more shiny, almost enameled, through the particular technique of priming on the slate. The almost abstract use of colors, extremely vibrant within contours that decisively mark the figures in the faces and in the anatomies streaked by the layers of iridescent color. In terms of the use of light, the dark-toned setting, the striking colours and the layout, the examples of the late Titian, of Tintoretto, of the Bassanos and even of El Greco, who learned a lot from the Venetian masters, seem to be effectively similar to this painting, already close to the Republic due to the choice of support we spoke about above.