Lamentation of Christ, by Jacopo Ligozzi

End XVI - Beginning of the seventeenth century, Flemish School, by Jacopo Ligozzi
Lamentation of Christ
Oil on oak panel, 74 x 106 cm; with frame 89 x 121 cm
The important panel in question is attributable to the hand of a Flemish painter who worked at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. A series of in-depth comparisons and researches concerning the painting made it possible to reconstruct the circumstances and the scope of realization. Born in Verona around 1549 and descendant of a family of embroiderers of Milanese origin, also active in Innsbruck and Trento, son of the painter Giovanni Ermanno, Jacopo Ligozzi carried out an initial activity in Trento, Verona and Venice. He later moved to Florence, where in 1575 his presence is documented at the grand ducal court of Francis I, and where he remained permanently until his death in 1627, setting up a solid shop there. Ligozzi's activity was marked by an intense production: from the famous naturalistic illustrations made with watercolor and golden highlights to the portraitist activity, to the direction of important decorative apparatuses. Mini-copper small paintings, of religious subject, mentioned in the documents and of which we can get an idea from the late Christ in the Sepulcher passed in 1972 on the London market (Sotheby's) and especially in the small oil on copper 23.5x18 cm appeared on Italian market in 2017 (Finarte), depicting, with few variations, the same subject in a reduced format. A second comparison can be made with the painting (76x103 cm) passed in auction in 2007 in Venice to the San Marco Aste. At the Hamburg Kunsthalle there is a preparatory drawing (19x17.3 cm) dated 1595 or slightly earlier (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. Nr. 21236), which perfectly reflects the present painting. The sheet was used for a graphic implementation, as shown by the tracing done with the utmost care. There is indeed a print of the same design by the engraver Jan Muller (Amsterdam 1571–1628) dated between 1595 and 1614 (Jan Piet Filedt Kok: Jan Harmensz. Muller. The Muller Dynasty. Part II, The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Rotterdam 1999, p. 153). Given the small size of the original design, it is quite conceivable that the model was sent to Amsterdam and used there. At this precise moment the realization of the table in question is inserted: through the engraving or the original preparatory drawing with which it came into contact, a Flemish artist has created an oil version on an oak table. The painting can be dated to between the last quarter of the sixteenth century and the first twenty years of the seventeenth century. The two characters emerge from the dark backdrop, illuminated only by the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, whose flame is rendered in relief. The Lamentation of Christ has characteristics typical of the masterful technique of Ligozzi's design. The anatomies and draperies are rendered with a remarkable technical skill. The analytically rigorous design is combined with a very secure brushstroke and a marked use of lights and shadows. The painting is well designed, made through a chromatic range that is typical of the Flemish area: in the present case, the Flemish artist has succeeded perfectly in translating the pictorial technique of Ligozzi's chiaroscuro, transfiguring it into an evocative and sacred atmosphere.