Patrons at the court of Ferrara, including Duchess Lucrezia Borgia, appreciated Mazzolino’s quirky devotional panels and narratives. His figures are developed in a highly individual and expressive style, characterized by exaggerated facial expressions based on his study of German prints. This sort of eccentricity is typical of Ferrarese painting.
The intimacy of the figures in this Lamentation, who cradle the swooning Virgin and support Christ’s body, demonstrates Mazzolino’s interest in densely grouped compositions that focus on human emotion. Beyond this central scene are three small figures in the distance, likely intended to represent Christ meeting two of his followers after his Resurrection.
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Title:The Lamentation
Artist:Ludovico Mazzolino (Italian, Ferrara ca. 1480–after 1528 Ferrara)
Date:ca. 1514–16
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Patrick Matthiesen and The Matthiesen Gallery, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2014
Accession Number:2014.448
Ludovico Mazzolino’s highly personal and sophisticated painting style was appreciated at the Ferrarese court of Ercole I d’Este (1430–1505) and especially that of his son and heir, Duke Alfonso I (1476–1534). He was a particular favorite of Alfonso’s wife, Lucrezia Borgia d’Este, in whose apartments he painted from 1505 to 1507. Focusing mostly on small-scale devotional scenes, his work looked back to the highly calligraphic paintings of earlier artists in Ferrara, particularly Ercole de’ Roberti, while at the same time demonstrating an awareness of contemporary German prints and the art of Raphael. Study trips to Venice (probably between 1505 and 1508) and Rome exposed him both to new trends in those centers and to the art of antiquity, and especially its reinterpretation in contemporary painting; antique motifs are often present in the architecture and ornament of Mazzolino’s sacred works.
In this moving Lamentation Christ is propped on the edge of a tomb decorated with delicate all’antica acanthus scrolls, with the Crown of Thorns beside him. He is supported by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, with Saint John the Evangelist at the left and the swooning Virgin slumped to the ground in the arms of the other grieving women. Clouds part at the left behind an austere Golgotha with the two thieves still suspended on the crosses. The three minute travelers with haloes at the center probably represent Christ, following the Resurrection, meeting two followers on the road to Emmaus (they were to recognize him when he blessed the bread at an inn; Luke 24: 13–30). They stand before a fantastic cityscape dominated by a castle and its walls. Elements of the painting, including the almost spectral crosses and the emotional conception of the group of women, harken back to Mazzolino’s great predecessor in Ferrara, Ercole de’ Roberti, especially his Crucifixion painted for the Garganelli Chapel in San Pietro Bologna around 1482 (now known through a copy). However, this painting also displays a sensitive understanding of Raphael’s more monumental figure style (his influential Saint Cecilia altarpiece arrived in nearby Bologna in 1514) as well as the early work of the artist’s great younger contemporary Dosso Dossi who was settled in Ferrara by 1513. These influences do not lessen the personal character of the painting, with its subtle use of shell gold, distinctive physiognomies, and compact, rhythmic composition. As suggested by several authors (see Matthiesen 1984 and Ballarin 1994–95), it is likely that this work was done later than a related painting of the same subject painted for the Duchess Lucrezia and dated 1512 (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome), and is probably to be dated around 1516.
Following Mazzolino’s death his paintings continued to be appreciated at the court of Ferrara and beyond. Many were owned by Lucrezia d’Este (1535–1598), the sister of Duke Alfonso II, and after her death entered the collection of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini in Rome. A smaller group, of which this is one, entered the Roman collection of Cardinal Emanuele Pio di Savoia (1578–1641) and appear in his postmortem inventory. This painting continued to be in this prestigious collection until at least 1724, when it appeared in the inventory of Prince Giberto Pio di Savoia.
Andrea Bayer 2014
Cardinal Carlo Emanuele Pio di Savoia, Rome (until d. 1641; inv., 1641); his brother, principe Ascanio Pio di Savoia, Rome (from 1641); his grandson, principe Francesco Pio di Savoia, Rome (in 1697); his son, principe Giberto Gioacchino Pio di Savoia, Rome (in 1724; inv., 1724, no. 33); contessa Marini, Rome (in 1857); conte Blumenstihl, Rome (before 1978); [Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd, London]; private collection, Europe (in 1984); [Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd, London, until 2014]
Rome. S. Salvatore in Lauro. December 9–11, 1697, no catalogue [see Ghezzi 1697].
London. Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd. "From Borso to Cesare d'Este: The School of Ferrara 1450–1628," June 1–August 14, 1984, no. 30 (as "Pietà," lent by a private European collector).
New York. Newhouse Galleries. "Paintings from Emilia, 1500–1700," March 11–April 16, 1987, no. 5 (as "Pietà").
London. Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd. "2001: An Art Odyssey," 2001, no. 4.
Inventario del cardinale Carlo Emanuele Pio di Savoia. 1641 [Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan; published in F. Cappelletti and L. Testa, ed., "Identificazione di un Caravaggio: Nuove tecnologie per una rilettura del 'San Giovanni Battista'," Giampaolo Correale, ed., Venice, 1990, p. 88; Getty no. I-962], as "Un quadro con la Pietà, dove la Madonna è svenuta e Nicodemo tiene la testa del Cristo in tavola alto p.mi 2 1/2 largo p.mi 2 senza cornice".
Giuseppe Ghezzi. Notes on the exhibition at S. Salvatore in Lauro. 1697, p. 61 v., no. 94 [Gabinetto Comunale delle Stampe, Museo di Roma, inv. 2452; published in Giulia de Marchi, "Miscellanea della Società Romana di Storia Patria," vol. 27: "Mostre di quadri a S. Salvatore in Lauro (1682–1725)," Rome, 1987, p. 91], lists it among works lent by the Principe Pio to the exhibition of 1697 at S. Salvatore in Lauro as "Pietà, in tavola, del Mazzolini, in tavola, mezza testa piccola".
Invent.m pro Exc.mo D. Pnpe Don Giberto Pio de Sabaudia. March 23, 1724, no. 33 [Notai del Tribunale A.C., notaio S.Paparozzi, vol. 5177, cc. 666r–713r, Archivio di Stato di Roma; published in Guarino 1994, pp. 119–20; Getty no. I-976], as "Altro quadro colla Pietà con otto figure grandi, cioè la Madonna svenuta su tre donne, e Christo sostenuto quasi à sedere da due vecchi, uno de quali li tiene la testa, e S. Giovanni in piedi con le mani incrociate, dietro di essi si vedono montagne, e paesi, in cima di un monte un castelletto, con tre figure piccole, che mostrano di andare in quello, et una lontananza, dove si vede il Calvario, alto palmi 2 1/2, largo palmi 2 in tavola con cornice nera, e piano di fico d'India, del Mazzolino".
Otto Mündler. Diary entry. September 4, 1857, p. 4v [published in Carol Togneri Dowd, ed. "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler, 1855–1858," Walpole Society 51 (1985), p. 164], as in the collection of contessa Marini in Rome: "Mazzolino, Descent from the Cross; fine parts, good heads; colour brilliant; body of Christ ugly. about 1 f. 6 in. w. 1 f. 10 in. h.".
Silla Zamboni. "Ludovico Mazzolino: una primizia ed altri inediti." Prospettiva no. 15 (October 1978), pp. 58–59, fig. 10, publishes it as formerly in the collection of conte Blumenstihl, Rome; relates it to a painting of 1512 of the same subject by Mazzolino in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome; notes that the figure group of the Virgin and the Maries at lower right closely resembles that in Ercole de' Roberti's "Crucifixion" formerly in the Garganelli chapel in San Pietro, Bologna (destroyed); finds it close in style to Mazzolino's "Pietà" in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, which she dates about 1514.
Patrick Matthiesen inFrom Borso to Cesare d'Este: The School of Ferrara 1450–1628. Exh. cat., Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd. London, 1984, pp. 82–83, no. 30, colorpl. 30, dates it about 1514, along with the Cini "Pietà".
Ellis Waterhouse. "Mazzolino & c." Da Borso a Cesare d'Este: la scuola di Ferrara, 1450–1628. Ferrara, 1985, p. 163, compares it with the Doria "Pietà".
Patrick D. Matthiesen inDa Borso a Cesare d'Este: la scuola di Ferrara, 1450–1628. Ferrara, 1985, pp. 99–100, no. 30, colorpl. XXX [same text as Matthiesen 1984].
Paintings from Emilia, 1500–1700. Exh. cat., Newhouse Galleries. New York, 1987, pp. 38–39, no. 5, colorpl. 5.
Alessandro Ballarin. Dosso Dossi: la pittura a Ferrara negli anni del ducato di Alfonso I. Cittadella (Padua), 1994–95, vol. 1, p. 242, no. 150, colorpl. CXLI; vol. 2, fig. 349, as "Compianto su Cristo morto"; dates it about 1516.
Sergio Guarino inQuadri rinomatissimi: il collezionismo dei Pio di Savoia. Ed. Jadranka Bentini. Modena, 1994, p. 107 n. 19.
2001: An Art Odyssey 1500–1720, Classicism, Mannerism, Caravaggism & Baroque. Exh. cat., Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd. London, 2001, pp. 76, 78–81, no. 4, ill. (overall in color, details in black and white), describes and illustrates the frame (pp. 334–35, fig. B).
Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (Italian, Verona 1528–1588 Venice)
1570s
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