The Story
The Lamentation by Ludovico Mazzolino. Gift of Patrick Matthiesen and The Matthiesen Gallery, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2014
Created in 1516 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the tragedy & death tradition. Ludovico Mazzolino worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on wood, measuring 22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Ludovico Mazzolino builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
