Restored in 1986 with Save Venice general funds.

This marble relief of the Pietà with Saints by Tullio Lombardo, the elder son of Pietro Lombardo, is still in its original location: it is installed above the altar of the Gussoni Chapel in the church of San Lio. The portrayal of this sorrowful subject, in which the Virgin Mary holds the body of her dead son, is particularly expressive and dramatic. Surrounded by Saints Nicholas of Bari, Andrew (?), Helena, and James, the Virgin Mary holds Jesus’ lifeless body and looks down at him with her brow furrowed and her mouth open, as though releasing an anguished cry or a sigh of despair. The body of Christ, head falling backward and over Mary’s knee, seems to be slipping from her grasp and off of her lap.

The scene is carved in low relief and highly compressed, a technical device typical of the Lombardo workshop. The figures are deeply undercut and overlap one another, thus creating shadow and the illusion that their bodies occupy more space than they truly do. The illusion is further enhanced by the edge of the drapery in which the Virgin is clothed, which falls slightly over the edge of the rocky base.

The work was restored by conservator Ottorino Nonfarmale, with the guidance of project director Sandro Sponza 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.

Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455–1532)
Pietà with Saints
c. 1479, marble

Luchs, Alison, ed. Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High Renaissance Sculpture. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2009.

Markham Schulz, Anne. The Sculpture of Tullio Lombardo. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2014.