キリストの遺骸の運搬

A mother watched her son killed in the street. A few years later she asked the young Raphael to paint another mother's grief, and he gave her this: Christ carried toward the tomb, and Mary fainting under the weight of loss.

The story behind the painting

On the night of 3 July 1500, in what became known as the Red Wedding, Grifonetto Baglioni and other family members murdered much of the Baglioni family of Perugia as they slept. According to the chronicler Matarazzo, his mother Atalanta refused him refuge, then changed her mind and ran after him, only to arrive in time to see him killed by Gian Paolo Baglioni and his men. A few years later she commissioned Raphael to paint an altarpiece in his memory for the family chapel in San Francesco al Prato. Raphael spent two years on it, through two design phases and many drawings. It is signed and dated 1507.

What to look for

The scene sits between the Deposition and the Entombment: Mount Calvary rises on the right and the tomb opens on the left. Two men without halos carry the dead Christ in a linen cloth, forming a strong V, and everyone seems held in suspended motion. The younger bearer on the right is thought to represent Grifonetto himself. Mary Magdalene holds Christ's hand, living flesh against dead. On the far right three women support the fainting Virgin, one kneeling in a twisting pose inspired by Michelangelo's Doni Tondo. Wikipedia gives 184 by 176 cm, while Wikidata gives 174.5 by 178.5 cm.

Meaning and intent

Raphael began with a Lamentation, close to his teacher Perugino, and moved to an Entombment, perhaps inspired by a Roman sarcophagus of Meleager, Michelangelo or a print by Mantegna. The change turned an iconic Pieta into a story. Vasari, who saw it in place, wrote that Raphael imagined the sorrow of the closest relatives laying to rest the one on whom a whole family's happiness depended. The predella below showed Hope, Charity and Faith, with Charity at the centre stressing motherhood, so the altarpiece speaks to Atalanta's own loss.

Legacy

This was the last of the young Raphael's major works for Perugia and an important step toward his mature style. In 1608 a gang working for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, removed it by force. To calm the city the Pope ordered two copies, and the one by the Cavaliere d'Arpino is still in Perugia. Taken by the French in 1797 and shown in Paris, it came back to the Galleria Borghese in 1815, while its predella went to the Vatican. Wikidata also lists the Louvre among its locations, reflecting that Paris stay.