Deposition of Christ (Bronzino)
Encyclopedia
The Deposition of Christ is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo
Agnolo di Cosimo
Agnolo di Cosimo , usually known as Il Bronzino, or Agnolo Bronzino , was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence...

, known as Bronzino, finished in 1540-1545. It is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The work is signed OPERA DEL BRONZINO FIORENTINO. It was originally commissioned for the chapel of Eleonora of Toledo in Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...

, 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....

. Her husband, Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, however gifted the picture to the French Cardinal Nicolas Granvelle, chancellor of Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

, as a political move. At Granvelle's death (1551), the work was placed in his funerary chapel at his hometown of Besançon. Originally, there were two side panels: the left one, depicting St. John the Baptist, is now in John Paul Getty Museum; the right one, depicting Saint Cosmas, no longer exists.

The Deposition shows Christ in the center, supported by the Virgin, who is in turn hold by St. John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene.
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