The conservation of Giovanni Bellini’s Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Arnold M. Bernstein.

Giovanni Bellini’s Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross was originally crafted for Santa Maria dei Servi, a church that once graced the Sestiere of Cannaregio. Established on June 16, 1361, by the mendicant Order of the Servants of Mary, the Servi Church held a distinguished position in Venice, second only to the Basilica dei Frari and Santi Giovanni e Paolo. It is highly likely that the Servites commissioned this painting to adorn the first altar on the right, which was reconstructed by the friars in 1510 for a group of female Servite tertiaries known as pizzocchere. Historical records indicate that the original dedication of this altar was to Saint Martha, but it later came to be referred to as the “altar of the Dead Christ.” Alternatively, there is another theory suggesting that the painting was initially intended to grace the main altar of the church. This main altar, along with the entire church, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, who is prominently placed at the center of Bellini’s composition. If this second hypothesis proves accurate, the Servi Lamentation would stand as Bellini’s sole known altarpiece created for the principal altar of a Venetian church.

Standing nearly four and a half meters tall, the altarpiece’s striking verticality is accentuated by the presence of the empty cross. At the base of this cross, the Virgin Mary is depicted in deep mourning for the loss of her Son. Flanking them on both sides are Saint Mary Magdalene on the right and Saint Joseph of Arimathea on the left, both kneeling in reverence before the lifeless body of Christ. Slightly set apart from this central group are two additional figures: a bearded Servite friar on the right and a female figure on the left. The identities of these two figures have been the subject of much debate and speculation. Some suggest that the friar may represent either a portrait of Saint Filippo Benizzi, the 13th-century general superior of the Servite Order, or Servite preacher Bonaventura Tornielli da Forlì, whose remains were moved to Santa Maria dei Servi in 1509. Equally disputed is the identity of the female figure, which has been proposed as Giuliana Falconieri, the founder of the Sisters of the Third Order of Servites; Saint Martha, to whom one of the Servi’s altars was dedicated; or Saint Mary of Cleophas, the sister of the Virgin Mary, whose relic was housed at the church’s main altar.

In 1664, the Venetian artist and art critic Marco Boschini made the first recorded mention of the painting, praising it as the “most beautiful work ever created by Rocco Marconi.” The attribution to Marconi, a late assistant of Giovanni Bellini, remained largely unchallenged until the early 20th century when scholars reevaluated the piece. They proposed that it was designed and conceived by the renowned Venetian master himself, with the execution carried out by Marconi. Although it is improbable that Bellini, in his later years, painted such a large canvas without any assistance, the Servi Lamentation is now widely accepted as Bellini’s ultimate masterpiece. Indeed, the painting represents the pinnacle of Bellini’s ability to seamlessly integrate figures and landscape, presenting both humanity and nature as integral elements of a divinely illuminated whole. This artistic evolution can be traced back to his work on the Agony in the Garden currently housed at the National Gallery in London (1458-1460), and continued through the Baptism of Christ in Vicenza (1501-1503) and the altarpiece in the church of San Giovanni Crisostomo, Venice (1513).

The Servi church fell victim to the Napoleonic suppressions in 1812 and, by 1821, had been largely reduced to ruins. Giovanni Bellini’s Lamentation was fortunately salvaged in 1814 and found its way into the Accademia Galleries on April 16, 1829. At that time, the painting was listed as being in very poor condition. In 1830, it underwent a restoration process carried out by Lattanzio Querena and Giuseppe Gallo Lorenzi. During a subsequent conservation campaign in 1956 led by conservator Antonio Lazzarin, X-radiography revealed extensive abrasions in the foreground that had been heavily inpainted during the 19th century. Lazzarin’s efforts in conserving the painting not only helped reinvigorate appreciation for it but also prompted a re-evaluation of its significance in Bellini’s late body of work. Now, nearly 70 years have passed since the last treatment. The protective varnish, sensitive to light, has considerably yellowed over time, and the retouching paint from previous interventions has caused chromatic alterations. The removal of these non-original materials is expected to enhance the clarity and authenticity of the painting. Additionally, further technical studies during the upcoming conservation treatment will contribute to a deeper understanding of Bellini’s artistic technique.

Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1424/30 – 1516)
Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross
1513 – 1514, canvas
445 – 310 cm

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Homepage
Gallerie dell’Accademia: Link to the Work

Benci, Jacopo, and Silvia Stucky. “Indagini sulla pala belliniana della Lamentazione. Bonaventura da Forlì e i Servi di Maria a Venezia.” In Artibus et Historiae, 8, 15 (1987): 47-65

Humfrey, Peter. The Altarpiece in Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993

Humfrey, Peter. Giovanni Bellini. Venice: Marsilio, 2021

Lucco, Mauro, ed. Giovanni Bellini. Catalogo ragionato. Treviso: Zel Edizioni, 2019

Robertson, Giles. Giovanni Bellini. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1968

Wilson, Carolyn C. Giovanni Bellini’s Lamentation Altarpiece for Santa Maria dei Servi in Venice: Observations and Two Proposals. In Blass-Simmen, Brigit and Stefan Weppelmann, eds. Padua and Venice: Transcultural Exchange in the Early Modern Age. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2017, pp. 93-110. Link to the article