Deposition of Christ (Bronzino)

Deposition of Christ
Artist Agnolo Bronzino
Year 1540–1545
Medium Oil on panel
Dimensions 268 cm × 173 cm (106 in × 68 in)
Location Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon

The Deposition of Christ is a painting by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, executed in 1540–45. It is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, France.

The work is signed OPERA DEL BRONZINO FIORENTINO. It was originally commissioned for the chapel of Eleonora of Toledo in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Her husband, Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, however, presented the picture to the French Cardinal Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, chancellor of Emperor Charles V, as a political move. At Granvelle's death (1551), the work was placed in his funerary chapel at his hometown of Besançon. Originally, there were two side panels: the left one, depicting St. John the Baptist, is now in J. Paul Getty Museum; the right one, depicting Saint Cosmas, no longer exists.

The Deposition shows Christ in the center, supported by the Virgin, who is in turn held by St. John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene.

In 1553 Bronzino made a replica for the chapel of Eleanora of Toledo and replaced the original wings of the altar depicting St John the Baptist (right wing) and St Cosmas (left wing) by side panels depicting the Annunciation.

References

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