Florentine School, ca. 1230, The Deposition, One of Three Panels from a Tabernacle Wing

Artist Florentine School, ca. 1230
Title The Deposition, One of Three Panels from a Tabernacle Wing
Date ca. 1230
Medium Tempera and gold on panel
Dimensions 43.8 × 36.4 cm (17 1/4 × 14 3/8 in.)
Credit Line University Purchase from James Jackson Jarves
Inv. No. 1871.1b
View in Collection

For more on this painting, see Florentine School, The Crucifixion.

Condition

For general information on all three panels, see the condition report for the The Crucifixion.

The panel depicting the Deposition ranges in height from 43.0 to 43.8 centimeters and in width from 36.2 to 36.4 centimeters. Its paint surface (fig. 1) is only marginally less well preserved than the Crucifixion. The vertical split through the center of the panel is slightly more prominent here and has caused some flaking of paint through the figure of Joseph of Arimathea and in Christ’s left shoulder. Other significant areas of loss are confined to the legs of Saint John the Evangelist near the lower-right edge of the composition, the Virgin’s draperies at the level of the crook of her right arm, the folds of the loincloth above Christ’s right calf, and the faces of the Magdalen and the Holy Woman, whose head is visible between the Magdalen and the Virgin. Only the last two of these have more than a minor impact on the legibility of the composition. Losses from general abrasion follow the cupped edges of the craquelure, especially in the gold ground and in areas of blue paint. The violet colors of the loincloth and of the Virgin’s dress are particularly thin, whereas the reds and earth tones elsewhere are well preserved. The white of the ladder is intact at the bottom where it overlaps the painted foreground and building but is almost entirely missing above the third rung, where it overlaps the gold. The figure of the Magdalen has been defaced by numerous old scratches, all of which have been repaired.

Fig. 2. The Deposition, ca. 1954
Fig. 2. The Deposition, ca. 1954
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