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Lot Essay
Painted around 1575, this small copper panel belies its scale to present a dramatic and dynamic scene of Christ’s descent from the Cross and the lamentation over his body. Bartholomäus Spranger, a leading master of Northern Mannerism, here places the viewer at the heart of the dramatic action of the Passion. Prominently positioned at the fore is the slumped body of Christ in the moment of his deposition, supported by Saint John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary. The intensity of the closely cropped arrangement serves to force the viewer into a confrontation with Christ’s lifeless body. While the panel focuses exclusively on the figures, forgoing almost all incidental detail, Spranger implies the towering Cross outside of the picture plane by placing its base at the centre of the composition, casting into shadow the figures of Joseph of Arimathea and what is presumed to be Mary Cleophas.
Such rich shadows and illuminations add to the composition’s emotional import while also drawing attention to symbolic elements such as Mary Magdalene lifting the lid of the ointment jar, which was used to anoint the body of Christ before his burial. This is balanced at the right by the female figure standing behind Saint John, who holds aloft the Crown of Thorns and three nails, with both providing narrative prompts for contemplation of past events (the crowning with thorns and the Crucifixion) and those yet to come (the anointing and burial of Christ’s body).
The modelling of Christ clearly betrays the influence of Italy on Spranger’s early development. In March 1565, the young painter left his native Antwerp, where he had also begun his artistic training, travelling to Italy via Paris. After initially settling in Milan, where he found commissions somewhat lacking, Spranger relocated to Parma in 1566. Here his talents were met with a more appreciative network of patrons, led by the city’s ruler, Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586), and his Netherlandish wife, Margaret (1522-1586), the illegitimate daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Both were keen collectors of Flemish painting. Spranger's residence in Parma afforded him the opportunity to study paintings in civic and religious institutions in the city by artists like Parmigianino and Correggio, which served to expand and develop his painterly style. These would leave a lasting influence on the attenuated, Mannerist figures and compositions that dominated his work following his return to the Netherlands.
The twisted position of Christ’s body in the present work, along with the mourning figures supporting him, are indeed reminiscent of Italian models, recalling similarly modelled compositions by Angelo Bronzino (c. 1546-8, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) and Michelangelo in his famous Deposition, carved between 1547 and 1555 (Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo). It is in Rome that Spranger also became acquainted with the Tournai artist Michel de Joncquoy, who in 1566 invited him to assist in the execution of a scheme of paintings for the church of San Lorenzo in the small town of Sant’Oreste. While elements of the scheme are lost, Metzler (op. cit, p. 25) has suggested that the present small copper might, in fact, represent a version of the composition that would have been intended for the corresponding fresco of the Deposition at Sant’Oreste.
The present, drooping figure of the dead Christ, with his legs folded beneath the weight of his body, is found in other early works by Spranger, likewise painted on copper. These include his Christ surrounded by Angels with Symbols of the Passion (with Sphinx Fine Art, London, 2014) and Lamentation (Munich, Alte Pinakothek), both of which employ similarly dynamic bodies. The painting in Munich presents a number of particularly close similarities, not only in the figure of Christ, but also in the cropped focus on the figures, along with the Virgin’s pose and clothing, consisting of an elaborately folded white veil, pink robe and blue mantle (fig. 1). The developing composition of the figure of Christ through this series of small coppers appears to have culminated in Spranger’s design of The Dead Christ supported by angels, which was engraved by Hendrick Goltzius in 1587.
Such rich shadows and illuminations add to the composition’s emotional import while also drawing attention to symbolic elements such as Mary Magdalene lifting the lid of the ointment jar, which was used to anoint the body of Christ before his burial. This is balanced at the right by the female figure standing behind Saint John, who holds aloft the Crown of Thorns and three nails, with both providing narrative prompts for contemplation of past events (the crowning with thorns and the Crucifixion) and those yet to come (the anointing and burial of Christ’s body).
The modelling of Christ clearly betrays the influence of Italy on Spranger’s early development. In March 1565, the young painter left his native Antwerp, where he had also begun his artistic training, travelling to Italy via Paris. After initially settling in Milan, where he found commissions somewhat lacking, Spranger relocated to Parma in 1566. Here his talents were met with a more appreciative network of patrons, led by the city’s ruler, Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586), and his Netherlandish wife, Margaret (1522-1586), the illegitimate daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Both were keen collectors of Flemish painting. Spranger's residence in Parma afforded him the opportunity to study paintings in civic and religious institutions in the city by artists like Parmigianino and Correggio, which served to expand and develop his painterly style. These would leave a lasting influence on the attenuated, Mannerist figures and compositions that dominated his work following his return to the Netherlands.
The twisted position of Christ’s body in the present work, along with the mourning figures supporting him, are indeed reminiscent of Italian models, recalling similarly modelled compositions by Angelo Bronzino (c. 1546-8, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) and Michelangelo in his famous Deposition, carved between 1547 and 1555 (Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo). It is in Rome that Spranger also became acquainted with the Tournai artist Michel de Joncquoy, who in 1566 invited him to assist in the execution of a scheme of paintings for the church of San Lorenzo in the small town of Sant’Oreste. While elements of the scheme are lost, Metzler (op. cit, p. 25) has suggested that the present small copper might, in fact, represent a version of the composition that would have been intended for the corresponding fresco of the Deposition at Sant’Oreste.
The present, drooping figure of the dead Christ, with his legs folded beneath the weight of his body, is found in other early works by Spranger, likewise painted on copper. These include his Christ surrounded by Angels with Symbols of the Passion (with Sphinx Fine Art, London, 2014) and Lamentation (Munich, Alte Pinakothek), both of which employ similarly dynamic bodies. The painting in Munich presents a number of particularly close similarities, not only in the figure of Christ, but also in the cropped focus on the figures, along with the Virgin’s pose and clothing, consisting of an elaborately folded white veil, pink robe and blue mantle (fig. 1). The developing composition of the figure of Christ through this series of small coppers appears to have culminated in Spranger’s design of The Dead Christ supported by angels, which was engraved by Hendrick Goltzius in 1587.