Restored in 2024 with funding from Jerrold and Ann Mitchell.

Although partially damaged, the Lamentation of Christ at the church of San Sebastiano is a fascinating panel painting whose iconography is drawn from Marian theology and spirituality. Christ has been taken down from the cross and his lifeless body, covered with the blood He shed for humanity, is held by Joseph of Arimathea. The old man—possibly a disguised portrait of the donor—clings to Christ in an anguished and compassionate manner. On the left-hand side, the figure of a young man in a red mantle (arguably Saint John the Evangelist) has turned his back to the viewer to look at Christ. Next to him, Nicodemus raises his left hand in mute despair, his fingers spread out against the cross stained with the blood of the Savior. On the opposite side, the three Maries surround the Virgin who has succumbed to her grief and collapsed at the sight of her dead son.

Known as the Spasimo, or Swooning, of the Virgin Mary, the group of the mourning Maries is by far the most remarkable iconographic motif of the composition. Indeed, noteworthy is the way Mary Magdalene tenderly leans her face against the Virgin’s neck, her eyes full of heartbroken sorrow and pain. Even more interesting are the posture, attitude, and pallor of the collapsed Virgin Mary, which explicitly parallel that of Christ. Such a visual association between the death of Christ and the dead-like faint of his mother was certainly intentional and pointed to a theology of redemption that saw Mary’s participation in the Savior’s passion as an indication of her status as Coredemptrix, that is, co-redeemer with her Son.

The authorship of this remarkable painting is still a matter of debate. Almost unknown even among specialists, the San Sebastiano Lamentation has at different times been given different attributions. By the late 1930s, the panel was assigned to a follower of Bonifacio de’ Pitati, one of the great masters of 16th-century Venice and the author of the extraordinary Saint Michael Vanquishing the Devil (restored by Save Venice in 2006). The theory was probably based on the fact that Bonifacio’s workshop worked in the sacristy of San Sebastiano, but has since proven to be stylistically inconsistent. Sometimes in the 1950s, the staff of the Istituto di Storia dell’Arte of the Giorgio Cini Foundation gave the painting to Girolamo Galizi da Santacroce, a Bergamasque painter active in Venice between 1490 and 1556. This new hypothesis met with little favor or attention, so much so that the current attribution has shifted to Domenico Capriolo or an unknown painter whose style (or visual models) would appear northern European, possibly German.

However, an unexplored hypothesis warrants consideration, offering a fresh perspective on the authorship of the painting. Upon closer examination, a connection can be established between the San Sebastiano Lamentation and Giampietro Silvio’s Deposition of Christ, originally made for the monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua and presently housed at the Museo Civico degli Eremitani. A detailed analysis of the Lamentation reveals striking similarities in the facial features of the female figures–characterized by long, straight noses, prominent cheekbones, and distinctive jawlines–akin to those depicted in the Deposition. Further supporting this potential link is the comparable decoration of the Virgin’s veil, adorned with red embroidery around the hem, as observed in the Padua painting, mirroring the attire of the woman in a red mantle standing beside the cross in the Lamentation. Finally, both paintings show a shared affinity for drama and emotional intensity as the depicted figures express a range of emotions, portraying states of despair to convey grief and bewilderment.

At the outset of the conservation treatment, the painting exhibited extensive paint flaking across the panel and significant losses on the left-hand side, including a vertical area affecting the figure of Saint John the Evangelist. To prevent further damage, thin strips of Japanese paper were applied to stabilize the surface. Upon arrival at the conservation lab, a closer inspection of the panel’s back revealed two horizontal T-shaped crossbars secured with wooden pegs and a frame attached with nails along the perimeter. This rigid structure, coupled with the restricted movement of the crossbars, was identified as a key factor contributing to the adhesion issues in the paint layer. Conservator Egidio Arlango resolved the problem by removing the frame and replacing the crossbars. Once the structural issues were addressed, the Japanese paper was removed, and the pictorial surface was consolidated. Following a series of cleaning tests, the thick layers of surface grime and oxidized varnish obscuring the painted surface were removed. The treatment concluded with the pictorial integration of small areas affected by paint loss.

Giampietro Silvio (1495 – 1552) [attr.]
Lamentation of Christ (Pietà)
Early 16th century, painting on panel
109 X 119,5 cm

Catalogo Generale dei Beni Culturali: Link to the Work

Paolo Ervas. Domenico Capriolo. Saonara (PD): Il Prato, 2018

Augusti Ruggeri, Adriana and Simona Savini Branca. Chiesa di San Sebastiano: arte e devozione. Venice: Marsilio, 1994

Hamburg, Harvey E. “The Problem of Lo Spasimo of the Virgin in Cinquecento Paintings of the Descent from the Cross.” The Sixteenth Century Journal, 12, 4 (1981): 45-75

Motta, Enrico. La chiesa di San Sebastiano e i dipinti di Paolo Veronese. Venice: Carlo Ferrari Editore, 1939

Salomon, Xavier, Davide Gasparotto, Gabriele Matino, and Melissa Conn. The Church of San Sebastiano in Venice: A Guide, Venice: Marsilio, 2024