Michelangelo, 'The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb)', about 1500-1
About the work
Overview
This is one of perhaps only three surviving panel paintings by the great Florentine artist Michelangelo. It shows Christ’s body being carried to his tomb. It was probably made for a funerary chapel in the church of S. Agostino, Rome – commissioned in 1500 and left unfinished when Michelangelo returned to Florence the following year.
Saint John the Evangelist may be the figure on the left carrying Christ’s body on strips of winding cloth helped by one of the Three Marys. They carry him up a staircase to his tomb in the rocks. The man behind Christ is either Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus. Another of the Three Marys, possibly Mary Magdalene, sits on the ground. The space left empty on the right was probably intended for the kneeling figure of the Virgin Mary. The other female figure on the right is probably another of the Three Marys, Mary Salome.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb)
- Artist
- Michelangelo
- Artist dates
- 1475 - 1564
- Date made
- about 1500-1
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 161.7 × 149.9 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1868
- Inventory number
- NG790
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 16th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Possibly commissioned for the church of Sant'Agostino, Rome, in September 1500. Farnese collection, Rome, by 1649. Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), Rome, by the early nineteenth century; after his death probably stored in the basement vaults of Palazzo Falconieri; probably removed to Villa Paolinia; bought by the dealer Vito Enei, Rome, in 1845; bought by the artist Robert Macpherson (1814-1872), Rome, in 1846, and exported to London soon thereafter; bought by the National Gallery, via Margaret Oliphant (1829-1897), in 1868.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Matthias Wivel, ‘Michelangelo & Sebastiano’ (exh. cat. National Gallery, London, 2017), London 2017; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2017The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & SebastianoThe National Gallery (London)15 March 2017 - 25 June 2017
Bibliography
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1846G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, ed. F. Le Monnier, 14 vols, Florence 1846
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1869'Correspondence', The Times, Jul. - Aug. 1869
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1876P. Mantz, 'Michel-Ange peintre', Gazette des beaux-arts, XIII, 1876, pp. 119-86
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1878G. Macpherson, Memoirs of the Life of Anna Jameson, London 1878
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1881Anon., 'The Entombment in the National Gallery', Architect, 1881, pp. 188-9
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1883J.E. Freeman, Gatherings from an Artist's Portfolio in Rome, Boston 1883
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1888G. Redford, Art Sales: A History of Sales of Pictures and other Works and Art, with Notices of the Collections Sold, Names of Owners, Titles of Pictures, Prices and Purchasers, 2 vols, London 1888
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1891H. Wölfflin, Die Jugendwerke des Michelangelo, Munich 1891
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1893J.A. Symonds, The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti: Based on Studies in the Archives of the Buonarroti Family at Florence, London 1893
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1896B. Berenson, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, London 1896
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1903A. Goldschmidt, 'Michelangelos Grablegung in London und Rogier V.D. Weyden', Sitzungengsberichte der Berliner Kg. Gesellschaft, 8, 1903, pp. 56ff
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1907F. Knapp, Michelangelo: Des Meisters Werke, Leipzig 1907
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1907C.J. Holmes, 'Where did Michelangelo Learn to Paint?', The Burlington Magazine, XI/52, 1907, 235-6
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1912H. Thode, Michelangelo und das ende der Renaissance, Berlin 1912
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1914C. Burlison, The Early Life of Clement Burlison, Artist, Being His Own Record of the Years 1810 to 1847, Written About 1897, Durham 1914
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1923F. Knapp, Michelangelo, Munich 1923
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1925A.E. Popp, 'Garzoni Michelangelos', Belvedere, VIII, 1925, pp. 6-28
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1928A. Venturi, Michelangelo, London 1928
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1932F. Antal, 'Review: A. Venturi, Michelangelo, 1928', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, I, 1932
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1934R.N.D. Wilson, The National and Tate Galleries, London 1934
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1936B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: Catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi, Milan 1936
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1937G. Fiocco, 'Un'altra pittura giovanile di Michelangelo', Critica d'arte, II/4, 1937
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1941G. Fiocco, 'Sul inizio pittorico di Michelangelo', Le arti, XX, 1941, pp. 5-10
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1945A. Bertini, Michelangelo fino alla Sistina, 2nd edn, Turin 1945
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1947C. de Tolnay, Michelangelo: The Medici Chapel, 5 vols, Princeton 1948
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1951E. Carli, Tutta la pittura di Michelangelo, Milan 1951
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1951C. Gould, 'Some Addenda to Michelangelo Studies', The Burlington Magazine, XCIII/582, 1951, pp. 279-81
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1961S.J. Freedberg, Painting of the High Renaissance in Rome and Florence, Cambridge MA 1961
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1963B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Work, with an Index of Places: Florentine School, 2 vols, New York 1963
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1965F. Hartt, Michelangelo, London 1965
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1967A. Smart, 'Michelangelo: The Taddeo Taddei Madonna, and the National Gallery Entombment', Royal Society of Arts Journal, CXV/5135, 1967, pp. 835-62
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1970M. Levey, Michelangelo's 'Entombment of Christ': Some New Hypotheses and Some New Facts, London 1970
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1971H.R. Mancusi-Ungaro, Michelangelo, the Bruges Madonna and the Piccolomini Altar, New Haven 1971
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1974C. Gould, 'Michelangelo's Entombment: A Further Addendum', The Burlington Magazine, CXVI/850, 1974, pp. 31-2
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1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
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1978C. Gould, The Draped Figure, Themes and Painters in the National Gallery 2, 2nd edn, London 1978
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1981M. Hirst, 'Michelangelo in Rome: An Altar-Piece and the Bacchus', The Burlington Magazine, CXXIII/943, 1981, pp. 581-93
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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1987E. Buzzegoli, 'Michelangelo as a Colourist, Revealed in the Conservation of the Doni Tondo', Apollo, CXXVI/310, 1987, pp. 405-8
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1988G. Briganti, La pittura in Italia: Il Cinquecento, Milan 1988
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1988J. Burckhardt, The Altarpiece in Renaissance Italy, ed. P. Humfrey, Oxford 1988
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1988M. Hirst, Michelangelo and His Drawings, New Haven 1988
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1989A. Butterfield, 'A Source for Michelangelo's National Gallery Entombment', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XXXIII, 1989, pp. 390-3
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1990K. Clark, 100 Details from Pictures in the National Gallery, 2nd edn, London 1990
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1992T.E. Cooper, The History and Decoration of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Ann Arbor 1992
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1992J.-C. Lebensztejn, Le journal de Jacopo da Pontormo, Paris 1992
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1992J. Shearman, Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance, Princeton 1992
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1992G. Agosti, 'Michelangelo e i Lombardi, a Roma, attorno al 1500', Studies in the History of Art, XXXIII, 1992, pp. 19-36
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1992E. Motzkin, 'Michelangelo's Slaves in the Louvre', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXX, 1992, pp. 207-28
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1993M.L. Evans, '"Uno maestro solenne": Joos van Wassenhove in Italy', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XLIV, 1993, pp. 75-110
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1994E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
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1994H. Locher, Raffael und das Altarbild der Renaissance: Die Pala Baglioni als Kunstwerke im sakralen Kontext, Berlin 1994
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1994M. Bailey, 'The Rediscovery of Michelangelo's Entombment', Apollo, CXL/392, 1994, pp. 30-3
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1994M. Daley, 'How to Make a Michelangelo', Art Review, 1994, pp. 28-32
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1994A. Nagel, 'Michelangelo's London Entombment and the Church of S. Agostino in Rome', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVI/1092, 1994, pp. 164-7
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1994M. Hirst and J. Dunkerton, The Young Michelangelo: The Artist in Rome 1496-1501, (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 19 October 1994-15 January 1995), London 1994
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1994C.M. Goguel, 'A Propos Des Dessins Du Maître de la Femme Voilée Assise Du Louvre. Réflexion Méthodologique en Faveur Du Maître de Santo Spirito (agnolo et/ou Donnino di Domenico del Mazziere?', in E. Cropper (ed.), Florentine Drawing at the Time of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Bologna 1994, pp. 111-29
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1995R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVI, 1995, pp. 85-95
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1995L.F. Schianchi, I Farnese: Arte e collezionismo. Studi (exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale di Colorno, 14 March - 21 May 1995; Museo di Capodimonte, 30 September -17 December 1995; Haus der Kunst, 1 June - 27 August 1995), Milan 1995
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1996A. Graham-Dixon, Paper Museum: Writings about Paintings, London 1996
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1996J.H. Beck, 'Is Michelangelo's Entombment in the National Gallery, Michelangelo's?', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXXVII/1528-1529, 1996, pp. 181-98
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1996S. Jones, 'Leighton's Debt to Michelangelo: The Evidence of the Drawings', Apollo, CXLIII/408, 1996, pp. 35-9
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1997F. Sricchia Santoro, Il Cinquecento, Milan 1997
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1997A. Nagel, 'Gifts for Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna', Art Bulletin, LXXIX/4, 1997, pp. 647-68
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1997M. Hirst, 'Il Seppelimento di Cristo', in M. Hirst and J. Dunkerton (eds), Michelangelo Giovane: Pittore e scultore a Roma, 1496-1501, Modena 1997, pp. 63-78
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1998J. Egerton, The British School, London 1998
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1998J.Á. Lopera, Miguel Ángel, Madrid 1998
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1998J.H. Beck, 'E di Michelangelo l'Entombment della National Gallery?', in I. Bigazzi and G. Falaschi (eds), Per Alessandro Parronchi: Atti della giornata di studio, Firenze, 10 febbraio 1995, Rome 1998, pp. 137-60
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2000A. Nagel, Michelangelo and the Reform of Art, Cambridge 2000
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2004P. Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500, New Haven 2004
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2007C.A. Luchinat, Michelangelo pittore, Milan 2007
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2010A. Donati, Ritratto e figura nel manierismo a Roma: Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Jacopino del Conte, Daniele Ricciarelli, San Marino 2010
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.
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