PERUGINO, Pietro
(b. 1450, Citta della Pieve, d. 1523, Perugia)

Mourning of the Dead Christ (Deposition)

1495
Oil on panel, 214 x 195 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

The panel is signed and dated and was painted for the Convent of Santa Chiara at Florence. It was carried off to France by the Napoleonic troops in 1799 and given back to Italy in 1815. One should note the beauty of construction in the grouping of the well-spaced and harmonious figures round the dead Christ (though certain conventionalities are not wanting) and especially the refined and delicate painting with its clear design and its soft gradations of colour, and the lyrical atmosphere of the landscape.