Lot 476: WORKSHOP OF GIUSEPPE AND BARTOLOMEO MAZZUOLI 1644 - 1725 AND ? - 1749

LAMENTATION
within later partially gilt and painted wood framework

the relief: height 54 in., width 51 1/2 in., depth 9 1/4 in.; 137.2 cm, 130.8 cm, 23.5 cm

terracotta relief

first half 18th century

Heim Summer 1976, no. 31; Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 21 (illus.); New York 1981, no. 13; Chicago 1987-1988, no. 9

Montegufoni Castle, Tuscany (removed in the 19 (th) Century); Private Collection, England; Heim Gallery, London

RELATED LITERATURE

Butzek 1988; Gentilini and Sisi, 1989; Butzek 2007

This large and striking relief relates to Giuseppe Mazzuoli's first recorded work, the Dead Christ on the antependium of the altar of Santa Maria della Scala, Siena (1670-71). The bozzetto for the relief, in the Chigi-Saracini Collection, unlike the finished work for Santa Maria della Scala, shows Christ with his hand resting on his thigh and with his legs crossed, like the present relief (Gentilini and Sisi, op. cit., 1989, pl. XIX). However, the position of the body (turned toward the viewer) and the head of Christ thrown backward are closer to the figure of the Deposed Christ by Giuseppe's nephew Bartolomeo (Gentilini and Sisi, op. cit., 1989, cat. 101). Reliefs with the Deposed Christ with Angels by Bartolomeo and his workshop exist in various institutions but none of them approach the size and depth of the present relief.

Avery (Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, op. cit.) notes that Donato Acciaili (1622-1704) restored the Montegufoni Chapel and "enriched it with sacred relics", probably after he inherited it in 1691. Montegufoni lies between Florence and Siena, not far from the Church of Santa Maria della Scala where Giuseppe worked early in his career. It is interesting to note that a nearly identical but smaller terracotta relief measuring 73.5 by 68 cm is stored in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (see Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, p. 76, fig. 1) and could be a preliminary model for the present work.