Restored in 2008-2009 with funding from Peter Freeman in honor of his father, Donald Freeman, through the Boston Chapter of Save Venice Inc.

This Deposition of Christ is an unheralded masterpiece by Jacopo Tintoretto. Although its quality was acknowledged by specialists, for more than twenty years the painting’s surface was obscured by old restorations and darkened varnish. Following conservation, it was featured in the exhibition of Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated by Save Venice Chairman Frederick Ilchman in 2009. From 2018-2019, it was featured in the exhibitions Tintoretto 1519-1594 at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice and Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., curated by Save Venice Chairman Frederick Ilchman and Robert Echols.

The painting depicts the moment after Christ’s body has been taken down from the cross, called the Deposition, and also includes elements of the Lamentation; the Virgin Mary faints in the arms of an attendant as her son’s lifeless body is placed in her lap. Mary Magdalen raises her arms in a gesture of anguish and disbelief as Joseph of Arimathea holds up Jesus’ body. The work was likely painted for the high altar of the Jesuit church of Santa Maria dell’Umiltà, which was later demolished. Originally the canvas was nearly square; two lateral strips were added at a later date to broaden it, perhaps to fit a later installation.

The painting was restored by conservator Giulio Bono, with the guidance of project director Giulio Manieri Elia of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Jacopo Tintoretto (c. 1518/19–1594)
Deposition of Christ
c. 1562, oil on canvas
227 x 294 cm

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Homepage

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Link to the Work

Dalla Costa, Thomas, Robert Echols, and Frederick Ilchman, eds. Tintoretto in Venice: A Guide. Venice: Marsilio, 2018.

Echols, Robert and Frederick Ilchman. Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018.

Ilchman, Frederick. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Boston: MFA Publications, 2009.