The Lamentation
Ludovico Carracci
ca. 1582 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings
Direct observation of bodies—often in deliberately challenging and sometimes unflattering poses and points of view—was a hallmark of the academy led by the Carracci family in 1580s Bologna. Combining scholarly discourse with an emphasis on drawing from the live model, their academy was a crucible for a generation of artists who would pioneer Baroque painting in Rome. The lack of idealization in Ludovico’s depiction of Christ shocked sixteenth-century critics; the Virgin Mary’s head is thrown back in an experimental pose that results in the most powerful face among the stylized frieze of mourners. Artists frequently reused canvases, but in this unusual instance, Ludovico painted on three pieces of tablecloth stitched together.
- Artist
- Ludovico Carracci
- Date
- ca. 1582
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and The Annenberg Foundation Gifts; Harris Brisbane Dick, Rogers, and Gwynne Andrews Funds; Pat and John Rosenwald, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Fisch, and Jon and Barbara Landau Gifts; Gift of Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family; and Victor Wilbour Memorial, Marquand, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment, and Charles B. Curtis Funds, 2000
