Giovanni Bellini, Lament over the dead Christ
Photogallery
Giovanni Bellini, Lament over the dead Christ
The painting formed the cymatium (upper element) of the famous altarpiece that Giovanni Bellini painted in Pesaro for the high altar of the Church of Saint Francis around 1475. The altarpiece (now in the Civic Museums of Pesaro) depicts the coronation of the Virgin framed by a complex series of compartment. The Lament sees the three figures of Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea grouped around the body of the dead Christ. The solemn composition (which suggests a viewpoint from below) is characterized by a pensive and sorrowful intonation and the intimate emotional relationship that binds the protagonists.