Artwork
Lamentation
Lamentation is an unspecified painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Unknown. It dates from 1600 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The canvas depicts a somber gathering around a lifeless figure swathed in white.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
This religious painting depicts the Lamentation of Christ, a scene showing the mourning over the body of Jesus following his crucifixion.
This religious painting depicts the Lamentation of Christ, a scene showing the mourning over the body of Jesus following his crucifixion. The work specifically portrays Jesus Christ as the central figure of this devotional subject. Created around 1600 by the workshop of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane, the canvas serves as an example of religious art intended to evoke contemplation on the Passion.
The iconography focuses entirely on the grief surrounding the deceased savior, a common theme in Christian artistic tradition designed to represent the sorrow of the faithful and the sacrifice of the divine.
Technique & Style
Created around 1600, this religious painting is executed in oil on canvas. The work measures 110 cm in height and 144 cm in width. Attributed to the workshop of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane, the piece depicts the Lamentation of Christ.
The composition focuses on the mourning of Jesus, adhering to the conventions of religious art from the period. The support is a standard canvas weave typical for Venetian paintings of this era, though specific details regarding the ground layer or current conservation condition are not provided in the available records.
History & Provenance
The work entered the Kunsthistorisches Museum with the core holdings assembled by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, who acquired it as part of his collection during the mid‑seventeenth century. By 1659 the painting was inventoried among his holdings before passing into the museum’s permanent collection.
Earlier in the seventeenth century, the canvas belonged to the Venetian collector Bartolomeo della Nave, whose Venetian collection was subsequently dispersed and partly acquired by Leopold Wilhelm. The painting is attributed to the workshop of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane, and dated to the year 1600.
The painting Lamentation is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Its provenance includes ownership by Bartolomeo della Nave and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria prior to its acquisition by the museum. The provided sources do not contain specific inventory or accession numbers for the work, nor do they list any exhibition history.
Legacy
The work's later influence and legacy are anchored in its religious subject and provenance. The painting, titled Lamentation, depicts the lamentation of Christ and was created in 1600 on canvas. It entered the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria before being acquired by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where it remains housed.
Its attribution to the workshop of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane, has contributed to scholarly discussions of late Renaissance religious art.
The painting's genre as religious art and its depiction of Jesus Christ underscore its devotional function. It is classified as a religious artwork within the broader context of European painting traditions.
Overview
The canvas depicts a somber gathering around a lifeless figure swathed in white. A figure dressed in red supports the body, while surrounding individuals kneel or stand in muted grief. In the distance, a hill rises beneath a darkened sky, punctuated by three solitary crosses, suggesting a narrative beyond the immediate scene.
Context
Set against a bleak horizon, the composition situates the intimate scene within a larger, perhaps biblical, landscape. The three crosses on the hill echo traditional crucifixion imagery, linking the personal lament to a collective narrative of sacrifice and redemption common in Western religious art.
Artist & collection
