(Bologna circa 1450–1517)
The Lamentation of Christ with Angels,
oil on panel, 32 x 40 cm, framed

Provenance:
Aristocratic collection;
sale, Christie’s, London, 21 April 1989, lot 119 (as Francesco Francia);
with Richard L. Feigen, New York, 1990-1;
sale, Christie’s, New York, 18 May 1995, lot 34 (as Francesco Francia);
sale, Christie’s, New York, 30 September 2005, lot 21 (as Francesco Francia);
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
E. Negro/N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la sua Scuola, Modena 1998, p. 215, no. 103, illustrated (as Francesco Francia)

Francesco Raibolini, better known as Francesco Francia, was a dominant figure in late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth-century Bologna. His earliest works reveal a careful study of the Ferrarese artists Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti, but his greatest inspiration was Lorenzo Costa, with whom he collaborated on a number of commissions for the Bentivoglio family. After Costa’s departure from Bologna in 1506, Francia’s style became strongly influenced by Umbrian painting, especially that of Perugino.

The present painting can be compared to The Lamentation in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, and to the small Pietà in the National Gallery, London, both traditionally dated after 1510.