Full title | The Dead Christ with Angels |
---|---|
Artist | Francesco Zaganelli |
Artist dates | active 1499; died 1532 |
Series | The Laderchi Altarpiece from San Domenico, Faenza |
Date made | 1514 |
Medium and support | Oil on wood |
Dimensions | 98.1 x 202.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1924 |
Inventory number | NG3892.2 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
This is the lunette, or upper panel, of an altarpiece for the chapel of the Visitation in S. Andrea in Vineis, Faenza. The dead Christ sits on the lid of his stone tomb supported by two angels. The lid is placed obliquely so that it appears to project into our space, as do Christ’s legs. Zaganelli has painted Christ’s body as if in our space to emphasise that it is the origin of the Host (consecrated bread) that would be placed on the altar below the painting during the sacrament of the Eucharist.
The crucified Christ rising from the tomb in the lunette shows the destiny accepted by Christ at his baptism, which is depicted in the main panel of the altarpiece. Saint John the Baptist holds a reed cross which bears a scroll inscribed ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’ (‘Behold the Lamb of God’). This refers to Christ, who will be sacrificed like a lamb for the salvation of humanity.
This is the lunette, or upper panel, of the altarpiece painted by Francesco Zaganelli for the chapel of the Visitation in the church of S. Andrea in Vineis, Faenza (the church was rebuilt in the eighteenth century and rededicated as S. Domenico, Faenza).
The dead Christ sits on the lid of his stone tomb, supported by two wingless grieving angels who kneel beside him. The angel on the left seems to look down at the wound in Christ’s side; its companion gazes up sorrowfully at Christ’s face. Christ’s legs hang over the front of the tomb, which is made of brown breccia marble. Breccia is a kind of rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock naturally cemented together.
The lid of the tomb is placed obliquely so that it seems to project into our space, as do Christ’s legs. The sole of his right foot is foreshortened and seen from below. Both soles are marked by the wounds from the nails hammered into Christ’s feet during the Crucifixion (known as the stigmata), and Christ still wears the crown of thorns placed on his head by his tormentors. Zaganelli has represented Christ’s body in our space to emphasise that it is the origin of the Host (consecrated bread) that would be placed on the altar below the painting during the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the lunette, Christ’s tomb itself resembles an altar, and perhaps the distinctive pattern of the breccia marble that Zaganelli has painted matched that of the front of the actual altar originally below the painting.
The scene of the dead Christ forms the culmination of the prophecy and episodes depicted in the main panel of the altarpiece below, which represents the Visitation and Christ’s baptism. A scroll inscribed ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’ (‘Behold the Lamb of God’) is attached to the reed cross that Saint John the Baptist holds. This refers to Christ, who was to be sacrificed like a lamb for the salvation of humanity. The Baptist pours water from the river Jordan onto the head of Christ, who clasps his hands in prayer and accepts God’s will.
The other Latin inscription, held by the hovering angel with the shroud-like cloth, translates as: ‘This is my beloved Son.’ It represents the word of God. According to the Gospels, after Christ had been baptised, the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven said: ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3: 17). In the scene of the Visitation, Saint Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, looks at the Virgin Mary and points to the scene of baptism which foretells the future of her unborn son. The crucified Christ rising from the tomb in the lunette above shows the destiny accepted by Christ, the Virgin Mary’s son, at his baptism.
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The Laderchi Altarpiece from San Domenico, Faenza
These two panel paintings formed the altarpiece for the Laderchi chapel in S. Andrea in Vineis, Faenza (the church was rebuilt in the eighteenth century and rededicated as S. Domenico). The main panel represents two episodes from the New Testament: the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Saint Elizabeth, who was pregnant with Saint John the Baptist; and the baptism of Christ in the river Jordan by Saint John the Baptist. The lunette, or upper panel, shows the dead Christ sitting on his open tomb, supported by two angels.
On 9 April 1504, Giacomo di Francesco Laderchi dictated a will in which he ordained that after his death his brothers should spend 100 lire in adorning the chapel of the Visitation, which he had paid to have built in 1489. Given the prominence of John the Baptist in this altarpiece, his brother Giovanni Battista was probably most closely involved in the commission.
These two panel paintings formed the altarpiece for the Laderchi chapel in the church of S. Andrea in Vineis, Faenza (the church was rebuilt in the eighteenth century and rededicated as S. Domenico). The main panel represents two episodes from the New Testament: the visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Saint Elizabeth, who was pregnant with Saint John the Baptist; and the baptism of Christ in the river Jordan by Saint John. The lunette, or upper panel, shows the dead Christ sitting on his open tomb, supported by two angels.
On 9 April 1504, Giacomo di Francesco Laderchi dictated a will in which he expressed his wish to be buried in the Dominican church of S. Andrea in Vineis, Faenza. He ordained that after his death, his brothers Giovanni Battista and Marco should spend 100 lire in adorning the chapel of the Visitation, which he had paid to have built in 1489. Given the prominence of John the Baptist in this altarpiece, Giovanni Battista was probably the brother most closely involved in the commission. It is likely that the treatment of the subject was suggested by the Dominicans, perhaps with reference to a specific text concerning the Visitation.
Bernardino and Francesco Zaganelli were brothers who lived and worked together, owning everything in common. They often jointly signed their paintings. Bernardino was probably chiefly responsible for the designs, Francesco for the painting. This picture is signed by Francesco.
The composition was clearly influenced by Giovanni Bellini’s Baptism of Christ of about 1500–2 for S. Corona, Vicenza. The figure of Saint John the Baptist is similar, the holy women and angels are standing on a rocky river bank, and Bellini’s angels are also wingless. In Bellini’s Baptism, Christ, God the Father, the dove of the Holy Ghost and John the Baptist’s cup are all aligned on the central axis; this was impossible for Zaganelli, who needed to shift Christ’s baptism to one side in order to accommodate the Visitation. The landscape setting, the voluminous creased draperies and sinewy bodies recall the work of German artists such as Patinir, Dürer and Altdorfer, whose work Zaganelli may have known through prints or seen in north Italian collections.
The paintings were bought by the National Gallery in 1922. Together they constituted the last large and virtually complete Italian Renaissance altarpiece to be acquired by the National Gallery, though the frame is missing. However, they have not always been admired. In 1926, the painter and art critic Roger Fry described Zaganelli’s altarpiece to Vanessa Bell, a fellow member of the Bloomsbury Group, as: ‘a vast horror by him which hangs fortunately in a dark room in the N.G. Do you remember it? It’s a Baptism with J.C. wading disconsolately in a shallow stream, his head bent to avoid two or three vastly overfed Glaxo babies who are trying to avoid falling on him, in the air above.’ Fry appears to have misremembered the number of babies.


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