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The Lamentation

ca. 1582
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 620
Direct observation of bodies—often in deliberately challenging and sometimes unflattering poses and points of view—was a hallmark of the academy led by the Carracci family in 1580s Bologna. Combining scholarly discourse with an emphasis on drawing from the live model, their academy was a crucible for a generation of artists who would pioneer Baroque painting in Rome. The lack of idealization in Ludovico’s depiction of Christ shocked sixteenth-century critics; the Virgin Mary’s head is thrown back in an experimental pose that results in the most powerful face among the stylized frieze of mourners. Artists frequently reused canvases, but in this unusual instance, Ludovico painted on three pieces of tablecloth stitched together.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Lamentation
  • Artist: Ludovico Carracci (Italian, Bologna 1555–1619 Bologna)
  • Date: ca. 1582
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 37 1/2 x 68 in. (95.3 x 172.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and The Annenberg Foundation Gifts; Harris Brisbane Dick, Rogers, and Gwynne Andrews Funds; Pat and John Rosenwald, Mark Fisch and Rachel Davidson, and Jon and Barbara Landau Gifts; Gift of Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family; and Victor Wilbour Memorial, Marquand, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment, and Charles B. Curtis Funds, 2000
  • Object Number: 2000.68
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Impresa
Ludovico Carracci
n.d.
Madonna and Child with Angels
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ca. 1595–1610
Virgin and Child and Saint John
Ludovico Carracci
ca. 1602–4
Madonna and Child with Saint John
Ludovico Carracci
ca. 1602–4
Holy Family under an Arch
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ca. 1585–90

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