Guercino, 'The Dead Christ mourned by Two Angels', about 1617-18

The Dead Christ mourned by Two Angels

Guercino

Room 26

About the work

Overview

Rather than depict the dramatic events of Christ’s crucifixion or resurrection, Guercino has created an imagined moment of grief and quiet reflection. Despite its small scale, the painting evokes a powerful sense of sorrow. One angel is overwhelmed with sadness, his head resting mournfully on his hand; the other looks intently at Christ. The earthy tones used are characteristic of Guercino’s early style.

Works on copper, like this one, are usually of small dimensions and were primarily used for private devotion. The subject of Guercino’s painting, which encourages prayer and contemplation, reflects this.

In-depth

This small painting depicts a solemn religious scene. Two angels kneel in quiet contemplation next to Christ, whose body has been taken down from the Cross following his crucifixion. While the Gospels make no mention of angels alongside the dead Christ, two are said to have been present at the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. The painting possesses monumentality, despite its reduced scale, and its intensity of feeling makes it one of Guercino’s most poignant works.

Rather than depict the dramatic events of Christ’s crucifixion or resurrection, Guercino has created an imagined moment of grief and quiet reflection which evokes a powerful sense of sorrow. Naked but for the shroud which will envelop him in the tomb, Christ’s lifeless body anchors the lower half of the composition. He lies back, his head resting limply against a stone block. His face is turned away towards the angel in the centre, who looks intently at him. The other angel is overwhelmed with sadness, his eyes turned downwards and his head leaning mournfully on his hand.

Guercino has not emphasised the horror of the Crucifixion – Christ’s wounds are barely visible and his youthful body appears luminous against the foreboding sky. A halo glimmers around Christ’s head, a sign of his divinity, but his lifeless body is a reminder of his humanity as he leaves his mortal life behind.

This work is much smaller than others by Guercino, who is known primarily for his large-scale religious paintings. It was painted on copper, a material more expensive than canvas, and such pictures tend to be of reduced dimensions. They were primarily used for private devotion, and the subject of this painting, which encourages prayer and contemplation, reflects this. The copper support also gives the paint surface a fresh, textured quality – there are areas of thick impasto, such as in the highlights on the angels’ wings, where the artist’s brushwork stands out.

Painted around 1617–18, this work is characteristic of Guercino’s early style. The rich, earthy tones contribute to the soft but powerful contrast between light and shade. Although the overall colour palette is subdued, the vibrant red of the central angel’s robes stands out, as does the deep grey-blue placed next to the yellow ochre on the right – a colour combination typical of Guercino’s early works.

It is not known for whom Guercino painted this work, but it is first recorded in the Borghese Collection in Rome in 1693. Many copies were made after it, evidence of its popularity. The painting had arrived in Britain by the beginning of the nineteenth century and was among the first pictures – and the first painting by Guercino – to enter the National Gallery’s collection.

A number of preparatory drawings related to this painting exist. One explores two options for the figure of the dead Christ (National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen), while another shows the lifeless Christ with an angel by his side (the Royal Collection).

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Dead Christ mourned by Two Angels
Artist: Guercino
Artist dates: 1591 - 1666
Date made: about 1617-18
Medium and support: oil on copper
Dimensions: 36.8 × 44.4 cm
Acquisition credit: Holwell Carr Bequest, 1831
Inventory number: NG22
Location: Room 26
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Revd William Holwell Carr
Frame: 17th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

Recorded in a Borghese collection inventory, Rome, 7 April 1693. Mentioned at the Palazzo Borghese by various writers in the eighteenth century. Listed among the pictures sold by Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese on 9 April 1801, to Durand. Next recorded when engraved in the collection of Admiral Lord Radstock, 1813; sold by him to Holwell Carr by whom lent to the British Institution 1816 (no. 70) and 1828 (no. 24). Rev. W. Holwell Carr bequest, 1831. Lent to the Guercino exhibition, Bologna, 1968, no. 23 (catalogue of paintings).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2018

Art in the Making

Statens Museum for Kunst

7 February 2018 - 6 May 2018

Bibliography

1769

J.J. Le Français de Lalande, Voyage d'un François en Italie fait dans les années 1765 and 1766, Yverdon 1769
1787

F.W.B. von Ramdohr, Über Mahlerei und Bildhauerarbeit in Rom für Liebhaber des Schönen in der Kunst, Leipzig 1787
1922

H. Voss, 'Guercino', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1922
1936

A. Rinaldis, 'Undated Inventory, Late 17th Century or Early 18th Century', Archivi, III, 1936
1964

P. Della Pergola, 'L'Inventario Borghese del 1693, II', Arte antica e moderna, XXVIII, 1964, pp. 451-67
1967

A. Châtelet, Dessins italiens du Musée de Lille (exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, 2 December 1967-11 February 1968; Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er, 1 March - 7 April 1968; Musée des Beaux Arts, Lille, 10 May - 15 July 1968), Amsterdam 1967
1968

D. Mahon, Il Guercino: Catalogo critico dei dipinti (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 18 November 1968), Bologna 1968
1971

M. Levey, The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1971
1982

E. Harris, Velázquez, Oxford 1982
1983

M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
1986

Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
1988

L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988
1989

D. Mahon CH CBE FBA and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989
1991

D.M. Stone, Guercino: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1991
1991

M. Helston et al., 'Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1060, 1991, pp. i-iv, 1-68
1991

M. Helston et al., Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 28 June - 31 July 1991), London 1991
1991

D. Mahon, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino, 1591-1666 (exh. cat. Museo civico archeologico, 6 July - 10 November 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, 2 December 1991 - 9 February 1992; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 March - 17 May 1992), Bologna 1991
1991

N. Turner and C. Plazzotta, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, (exh. cat. British Museum, 17 May - 18 August 1991), London 1991
1992

D. Mahon, Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque (exh. cat. Pinacoteca Nazionale, 6 July - 10 November 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, 2 December 1991 - 9 February 1992; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 March - 17 May 1992), Washington 1992
1996

P. Mitchell and L. Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames, London 1996
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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