Body of Christ held by angels

The painting Body of Christ held by angels by Cosimo Tura is dated to 1465, aligning with the artist’s mature period in Ferrara. The work entered the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains today. No documented commission or early provenance prior to its museum acquisition has been identified in the available sources.

The painting is held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, where it is inventoried as 515 (Gemäldegalerie).

It was exhibited in the museum’s permanent display of Italian Quattrocento paintings in Gallery VIII through at least the mid-20th century. A later reinstallation in the same galleries continued to feature the work as part of the museum’s holdings of early Northern Italian art.

Cosimo Tura’s Body of Christ held by angels (1465) is an oil painting that presents a solemn depiction of the dead Christ supported by two angelic figures. Executed in the early Renaissance style, the work belongs to the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s collection and exemplifies the devotional imagery prevalent in mid‑15th‑century Italy.

Tura, active from roughly 1430 to 1495, helped establish Ferrara’s artistic identity during the early Renaissance. His work merges the courtly elegance of northern Italian painting with emerging humanist concerns, and this piece illustrates the period’s focus on emotive religious subjects intended for private devotion or chapel display.