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Lot Essay
This moving image of the Mater Dolorosa owes much to Titian, in subject and format as well as in expressive technique. The picture is unique in Bassano's oeuvre in format and iconography, but Titian had painted variations on the theme of the Mater Dolorosa, also in half-length format, in the 1550s and '60s, and Bassano certainly knew the older artist's works.
Professor Alessandro Ballarin, to whom we are grateful, dates the painting to the final phase in the artist's career, c. 1580 (on the basis of photographs).
Professor Alessandro Ballarin, to whom we are grateful, dates the painting to the final phase in the artist's career, c. 1580 (on the basis of photographs).