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Deposition (Raphael)
Encyclopedia
The Deposition, also known as the , Borghese Deposition or The Entombment, is an oil painting by the Italian
High Renaissance
painter Raphael
. Signed and dated "Raphael Urbinas MDVII (1507)", the painting is in the Galleria Borghese
in Rome
. It is the central panel of a larger altarpiece commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni of Perugia
in honor of her of fallen son, Grifonetto Baglioni. Like many works, it shares elements of the common subjects of the Deposition of Christ, the Lamentation of Christ
, and the Entombment of Christ
. The painting is on wood panel and measures 184 x 176 cm.
and other parts of Italy, such as Florence
. The Baglioni
family were the lords of Perugria and surrounding areas, and also leading condottiere or leaders of mercenary troops. There was an especially bloody episode in Perugia on the night of July 3, 1500, when Grifonetto Baglioni and some angry members of the family conspired to murder much of the rest of the Baglioni family as they slept. According to Matarazzo, the chronicler of the family, following the bloodshed, Grifonetto’s mother Atalanta Baglioni refused to give her son refuge in her home and when he returned to the city he was confronted by Gian Paolo Baglioni
, the head of the family who had survived the night by escaping over the roof tops. Atalanta changed her mind and rushed after her son, but arrived only in time to see her son being killed by Gian Paolo and his men. A few years later, Atalanta commissioned the young Raphael to paint an altarpiece
to commemorate Grifonetto in the family chapel in San Francesco al Prato. Raphael took the commission very seriously, over the course of two years working on and developing his design through two phases and numerous preparatory drawings. This was the last of several major commissions by the young Raphael for Perugia, the home city of his master Perugino. He had already painted for the same church the Oddi Altarpiece (now in the Vatican) for the Baglioni's great rival family (with whom they were also intermarried), and other large works. The new commission marked an important stage in his development as an artist, and the formation of his mature style. The painting remained in its location until in 1608, it was forcibly removed by a gang working for Cardinal Scipione Borghese
, nephew of Pope Paul V
. In order to pacify the city of Perugia, the Pope commissioned two copies of the painting from Giovanni Lanfranco
and the Cavaliere d’Arpino, and that by Arpino is still in Perugia. Though confiscated by the French in 1797 and exhibited in Paris in the Louvre
, then renamed the Napoleon Museum, it was returned to the Galleria Borghese in 1815, except for the predella which was taken to the Vatican Museums
.
, similar to the famous painting of the same name
by his teacher Pietro Perugino
. He moved from that idea to an Entombment of Christ
, perhaps inspired by an ancient Roman sarcophagus
relief of Meleager
from Greek
mythology, Michelangelo’s Entombment
or the print of the Entombment by Mantegna
. Looking through his studies, we can see that this long period of evolution gave Raphael the opportunity to put into practice much of the new style and techniques he had been developing from his studies of Renaissance masters Leonardo da Vinci
and Michelangelo
as well as others artists of the period. The two design phases may broadly be labeled ‘Perugian’ and ‘Florentine’. The significant change of subject from a Lamentation to an Entombment affected the character of the painting on the whole because it changed from a more iconic Pietà
to a subject with more narrative interest.
, the famous biographer of Italian artists, also understood Raphael’s piece as a narrative painting. Having seen the altarpiece in its original setting, Vasari gives a detailed description:
and Nicodemus
behind and to the left and Mary Magdalene
holding the hand of Christ. The legs of St. John and Nicodemus do present a distracting problem, especially in the case of Nicodemus because due to the obstruction of the view, it is not clear what he is exactly doing, or what he is exactly looking at.
On the far right, in the other figural group slightly behind the action, are the three Marys supporting the Virgin Mary, who has fainted most likely due to her overwhelming grief. The way in which the Virgin is kneeling is excessively awkward, with extreme torsion and sharply cut drapery, also known as a figura serpentinata
. Though seen in other famous works, her positioning seems to have been directly inspired by the example of Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo
, completed only a few years earlier. In terms of color, Raphael balances his use of strong reds, blues, yellows and greens and he creates subtle contrasts in his flesh tones, best seen with the living Mary Magdalene’s holding of the dead Christ’s hand.
of three grisaille
(monochrome) compartments illustrating the Theological Virtues
(1507. Oil on panel, three sections of 18 x 44 cm each. Rome, Vatican Gallery). The three panels were originally lined up at the base of the altarpiece to show, left to right, Hopehttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009c.jpg, Charityhttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009b.jpg, and Faithhttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009a.jpg, with each figure flanked by two putti. The subjects of the predellas are meant to relate symbolically to the main panel above: Charity in the center emphasizes the theme of motherhood, while Hope and Faith refer to the principle motif, Christ’s martyrdom. Thus Raphael’s conception not only refers to the theme of the altarpiece, but also to the private circumstances of the donor, Atalanta Baglioni.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
High Renaissance
High Renaissance
The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...
painter Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
. Signed and dated "Raphael Urbinas MDVII (1507)", the painting is in the Galleria Borghese
Galleria Borghese
The Borghese Gallery is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. It is a building that was from the first integral with its gardens, nowadays considered quite separately by tourists as the Villa Borghese gardens...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. It is the central panel of a larger altarpiece commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni of Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
in honor of her of fallen son, Grifonetto Baglioni. Like many works, it shares elements of the common subjects of the Deposition of Christ, the Lamentation of Christ
Lamentation of Christ
350px|thumb|Lamentation by [[Giotto di Bondone]] in the [[Scrovegni Chapel]]The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends and family mourned over his body...
, and the Entombment of Christ
Entombment of Christ
The Entombment redirects here. For other uses, The Entombment The Entombment of Christ, that is to say the burial of Jesus Christ, occurred after his death by crucifixion, when, according to the gospel accounts, he was placed in a new tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.-Biblical account:All four...
. The painting is on wood panel and measures 184 x 176 cm.
The Commission
In the early part of the 16th Century, violence among factions, mostly in the form of hand-to-hand combat, was relatively common in PerugiaPerugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
and other parts of Italy, such as Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. The Baglioni
Baglioni
Baglioni is an Italian surname and may refer to:*Claudio Baglioni Italian musician*Piero Baglioni , Italian chemist and University professor at the University of Florence...
family were the lords of Perugria and surrounding areas, and also leading condottiere or leaders of mercenary troops. There was an especially bloody episode in Perugia on the night of July 3, 1500, when Grifonetto Baglioni and some angry members of the family conspired to murder much of the rest of the Baglioni family as they slept. According to Matarazzo, the chronicler of the family, following the bloodshed, Grifonetto’s mother Atalanta Baglioni refused to give her son refuge in her home and when he returned to the city he was confronted by Gian Paolo Baglioni
Gian Paolo Baglioni
Gian Paolo Baglioni was an Italian condottiero and lord of Perugia.He was the son of Rodolfo Baglioni and initially fought mostly in Umbria, especially against the family rivals, the Oddi. In 1498 he was hired by Florence to held minor operations in Umbria.In July 1500 he escaped an assassination...
, the head of the family who had survived the night by escaping over the roof tops. Atalanta changed her mind and rushed after her son, but arrived only in time to see her son being killed by Gian Paolo and his men. A few years later, Atalanta commissioned the young Raphael to paint an altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
to commemorate Grifonetto in the family chapel in San Francesco al Prato. Raphael took the commission very seriously, over the course of two years working on and developing his design through two phases and numerous preparatory drawings. This was the last of several major commissions by the young Raphael for Perugia, the home city of his master Perugino. He had already painted for the same church the Oddi Altarpiece (now in the Vatican) for the Baglioni's great rival family (with whom they were also intermarried), and other large works. The new commission marked an important stage in his development as an artist, and the formation of his mature style. The painting remained in its location until in 1608, it was forcibly removed by a gang working for Cardinal Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini...
, nephew of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
. In order to pacify the city of Perugia, the Pope commissioned two copies of the painting from Giovanni Lanfranco
Giovanni Lanfranco
Giovanni Lanfranco was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.-Biography:Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the household of Count Orazio Scotti...
and the Cavaliere d’Arpino, and that by Arpino is still in Perugia. Though confiscated by the French in 1797 and exhibited in Paris in the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, then renamed the Napoleon Museum, it was returned to the Galleria Borghese in 1815, except for the predella which was taken to the Vatican Museums
Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and...
.
Preparatory studies
Raphael made numerous preparatory sketches or drafts as his idea for the composition evolved (several are on Wikimedia Commons - see link below). He started with the subject of a Lamentation over the dead ChristLamentation of Christ
350px|thumb|Lamentation by [[Giotto di Bondone]] in the [[Scrovegni Chapel]]The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends and family mourned over his body...
, similar to the famous painting of the same name
Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Perugino)
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino, executed in 1495 and housed in the Galleria Palatina of Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy.-History:...
by his teacher Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino , born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance...
. He moved from that idea to an Entombment of Christ
Entombment of Christ
The Entombment redirects here. For other uses, The Entombment The Entombment of Christ, that is to say the burial of Jesus Christ, occurred after his death by crucifixion, when, according to the gospel accounts, he was placed in a new tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.-Biblical account:All four...
, perhaps inspired by an ancient Roman sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
relief of Meleager
Meleager
In Greek mythology, Meleager was a hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer....
from Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
mythology, Michelangelo’s Entombment
The Entombment
The Entombment is an unfinished painting of the placing of the body of Jesus in the garden tomb, attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti and dated to around 1500 or 1501...
or the print of the Entombment by Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
. Looking through his studies, we can see that this long period of evolution gave Raphael the opportunity to put into practice much of the new style and techniques he had been developing from his studies of Renaissance masters Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
as well as others artists of the period. The two design phases may broadly be labeled ‘Perugian’ and ‘Florentine’. The significant change of subject from a Lamentation to an Entombment affected the character of the painting on the whole because it changed from a more iconic Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
to a subject with more narrative interest.
Analysis
Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
, the famous biographer of Italian artists, also understood Raphael’s piece as a narrative painting. Having seen the altarpiece in its original setting, Vasari gives a detailed description:
In this most divine picture there is a Dead Christ being borne to the Sepulcher, executed with such freshness and such loving care, that is seems to the eye to have been only just painted. In the composition of this work, Raffaello imagined to himself the sorrow that the nearest and most affectionate relatives of the dead one feel in laying to rest the body of him who has been their best beloved, and on whom, in truth, the happiness, honor, and welfare of a whole family have depended. Our Lady is seen in a swoon; and the heads of all the figures are very gracious in their weeping, particularly that of St. John, who, with his hands clasped, bows his head in such a manner as to move the hardest heart in pity. And in truth, whoever considers the diligence, love, art and grace shown by this picture, has great reason to marvel, for it amazes all who behold it, what with the air of the figures, the beauty of the draperies, and in short, the supreme excellence that it reveals in every part.Vasari takes a reverential tone in describing The Entombment, taking great care to discuss not only the important figures in the painting, but also their effect on the viewer. Looking at it formally, the scene depicted is actually neither the Deposition nor the Entombment, but located somewhere in-between. We can determine this through the background: on the right is Mount Calvary, the location of the Crucifixion and Deposition, and on the left is the cave where the Entombment will take place. And so two men, lacking halos, use a piece of linen to carry the dead Christ and it seems as if all the participants in the bearing of the body are in suspended animation. The two men and Christ form very strong diagonals in the shape of a V. The younger man on the right holding Christ is posited to be a representation of the slain youth, Grifonetto himself. Besides the two men carrying the body, we have St. John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
and Nicodemus
Nicodemus
Saint Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, who, according to the Gospel of John, showed favour to Jesus...
behind and to the left and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
holding the hand of Christ. The legs of St. John and Nicodemus do present a distracting problem, especially in the case of Nicodemus because due to the obstruction of the view, it is not clear what he is exactly doing, or what he is exactly looking at.
On the far right, in the other figural group slightly behind the action, are the three Marys supporting the Virgin Mary, who has fainted most likely due to her overwhelming grief. The way in which the Virgin is kneeling is excessively awkward, with extreme torsion and sharply cut drapery, also known as a figura serpentinata
Figura serpentinata
Figura Serpentinata is a style in painting and sculpture that is typical of Mannerism. It is similar, but not identical, to contrapposto, and features figures often in a spiral pose...
. Though seen in other famous works, her positioning seems to have been directly inspired by the example of Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo
Doni Tondo
The Doni Tondo or Doni Madonna, sometimes called The Holy Family, is the earliest of only three surviving panel paintings by the adult Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, and the only one to be finished...
, completed only a few years earlier. In terms of color, Raphael balances his use of strong reds, blues, yellows and greens and he creates subtle contrasts in his flesh tones, best seen with the living Mary Magdalene’s holding of the dead Christ’s hand.
The Altarpiece
As stated above, the altarpiece consisted of more than just the main panel. The top molding (now in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia) had a panel of "God the Father in a glory of cherubim, blessing his son." The main panel itself had a frame, parts of which still survive, decorated by griffins' being crowned and fed by winged putti seated on rams’ heads, all of a yellow-bronze color against a blue ground (the Baglioni family crest was a griffin’s head, as well as the name of Atalanta’s husband and son being Grifonetto). Below there was a predellaPredella
A predella is the platform or step on which an altar stands . In painting, the predella is the painting or sculpture along the frame at the bottom of an altarpiece...
of three grisaille
Grisaille
Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
(monochrome) compartments illustrating the Theological Virtues
Theological virtues
Theological virtues - in theology and Christian philosophy, are the character qualities associated with salvation, resulting from the grace of God, which enlightens human mind.- In the Bible :The three theological virtues are:...
(1507. Oil on panel, three sections of 18 x 44 cm each. Rome, Vatican Gallery). The three panels were originally lined up at the base of the altarpiece to show, left to right, Hopehttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009c.jpg, Charityhttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009b.jpg, and Faithhttp://images.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/I/big/1700009a.jpg, with each figure flanked by two putti. The subjects of the predellas are meant to relate symbolically to the main panel above: Charity in the center emphasizes the theme of motherhood, while Hope and Faith refer to the principle motif, Christ’s martyrdom. Thus Raphael’s conception not only refers to the theme of the altarpiece, but also to the private circumstances of the donor, Atalanta Baglioni.
Further reading
- "Raphael's Altar-Pieces in S. Francesco al Prato, Perugia: Patronage, Setting and Function", Donal Cooper, The Burlington MagazineThe Burlington MagazineThe Burlington Magazine is a monthly academic journal that covers the fine and decorative arts. It is the longest running art journal in the English language and it is a charitable organisation since 1986. It was established in 1903 by a group of art historians and connoisseurs which included Roger...
, Vol. 143, No. 1182 (Sep., 2001), pp. 554-561