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Wounded Christ Between Angels
Tempera on panel, mid-1480s
Bartolommeo Vivarini
Venetian, c. 1432–c. 1499
Born in Venice on the island of Murano, Bartolommeo followed his older brother Antonio in becoming an artist and collaborating together on projects as early as 1450. In addition to his sibling’s teaching, he may have studied under Antonello da Messina, the first artist to use oil paint in Italy. However, Bartolommeo’s artistic style with its strong linear quality and hard, sculptural forms suggests possible instruction by Francesco Squarcione of Padua or the influence of one of Squarcione’s greatest students, Andrea Mantegna known for his linear perspective and foreshortening. Although Vivarini’s later works show some influence of Venetian master, Giovanni Bellini.
He, his brother, and nephew Alvise were talented painters. He spent much of his artistic career working in Venice and was quite successful creating large altarpieces in the 1460s and 1470s following the standard Gothic features of gold ground and flattened figures. As the new Renaissance ideals took form in more natural beauty and landscaped backgrounds, Vivarini’s outmoded painting style led him to find work outside the city for more provincial churches, where the artistic innovations were slower to replace his traditional approach.
M&G’s Wounded Christ Between Angels is more than likely a cymatium, the highest decorative panel in the architecture of a polyptych for a church altarpiece. Historians have suggested that M&G’s panel was originally part of one of two large Bartolommeo Vivarini altarpieces that have since been dismembered: the Almenno Polyptych with a focus on St. Bartholmew or possibly the Torre Boldone triptych now in Bergamo’s Galleria dell’ Accademia Carrara.
In looking at the panel, one notices before recognizing Vivarini’s linear style, the bright gold and vivid color choices—both signature elements of the artist’s style. At one point, the work was titled, Pieta, referencing the Byzantine term of Imago Pietatis, meaning Christ of Pity, which developed into the imagery later identified as the Man of Sorrows as seen in M&G’s work.
Vivarini’s thorn-crowned Christ seems to stand in an open sepulcher with His hands resting on a ledge of red marble stone. He presents His wounds to the viewer as He looks down, His face winced in pain. The cross with clearly rendered wood grain is placed behind Him as a reminder of His sacrifice. Two angels hover in mourning beside Him while one looks heavenward and the other watches Christ. Similar to Bergamo’s Trinity with Angels, the background behind the emaciated body of Christ is a vibrant green—a symbolic choice representing the new life that His innocent death and victorious resurrection made possible for mankind.
Erin R. Jones, M&G Executive Director
Published 2026
Portrait of William Shakespeare Mezzotint, after the Chandos Portrait, 1849
Samuel Cousins, ARA
From the Riley Collection of Works on Paper
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St. Veronica
Oil on canvas
Claude Vignon
French, 1593-1670
The legend of St. Veronica is a tangled one. Whether she is based on a woman named Berenice, the woman with the issue of blood, or merely a weeping woman of Jerusalem, the important thing is that there is no Biblical foundation to her story. Veronica is said to be a widow who pitied the Savior and offered Him her veil to wipe His sweaty, bloodstained face. He accepted, and when He returned the veil, it bore His likeness.
In the world of art, her iconography includes the face-imprinted cloth, as in M&G’s painting by Claude Vignon. The religious have long sought relics of biblical personages. This veil with its miracle-produced image is considered the vera icon or “true image” to distinguish it from all other images of Christ. Over time the cloth became known as a veronica (also a sudarium) and the woman as “Veronica.”
Luke 23:28 states that Christ tells the mourning women following Him to Calvary, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” These are not the devoted Galilean women; these are women of Jerusalem who doubtless heard of or even participated in the mob cry, “Let his blood be upon us and our children” outside Pilate’s palace. Christ denies their pity for Himself; His death is a permanent payment for sin, but He will rise again. Instead, He confronts them with the consequences of their nation’s rejection of the Son of God (Luke 23:29-30). Whether He foretells the cruel Roman destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) or the ultimate judgment of the earth when the Jews recognize fully their sin in rejecting Him (Revelation 6:16) or both destructions, Jesus’ words point up the irony that their sympathy should lie with the living, not the soon-dead, innocent One (the “green tree” in Luke 23:31).
Vignon painted another work with a veronica, this time with angels holding the cloth. It is intriguing to consider the variations of the face of Christ. M&G’s St. Veronica depicts a corpse-like appearance similar to a death mask with a face drained of color, eyes closed, and a marked lack of blood from both the crown of thorns and the soldiers’ abuse. It is clearly not a true image of Christ on His way to Calvary, though His blood loss must have been severe. However, the visage on the cloth that the two angels display is much more like the face the women saw—a man abused, yet fully aware. Why Vignon painted such different versions of the vera icon, aside from being ironic, is a mystery.
Two Angels Presenting the Holy Face, Claude Vignon
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
The vibrant colors and use of chiaroscuro suggest the influence of the Caravaggisti that Vignon encountered in Rome during his travels. The different coloring between these two works highlights the variety that is found in Vignon’s style in general and causes the viewer to understand the validity of one critic’s comment that “a wealth of hues plays a large part in the poetry of the work of Claude Vignon.”
He was employed by King Louis XIII as well as Cardinal Richelieu, commissions that speak to his skill and popularity. A man of varied talents (painter, etcher, and art salesman), Vignon drew together the influences of Mannerism, Colorism, Caravaggism, and even of Rembrandt and produced works that mark him as “one of the most important and most distinctive French painters of his generation.”
Dr. Karen Rowe Jones, M&G Board Member
Published 2026
Scenes from the Book of Esther
Walnut Panel, possibly 16th century
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One of the most important pieces of furniture during the Italian Renaissance was the cassone—the Italian word for a chest.
Sorrowing Virgin
Glazed Terracotta, c. 1500
Andrea della Robbia
Florence, 1435-1525
Andrea della Robbia was born into a family known for artistic innovation. His uncle, Luca della Robbia pioneered glazed terracotta as a durable and expressive sculptural medium. As Luca’s primary heir, Andrea learned not only sculptural principles of form and proportion from his uncle, but also the closely guarded technical procedures of glazed terracotta that made the family’s works exceptional in Renaissance Florence.
Throughout his long and prolific career, Andrea expanded and perfected the aesthetic, technical, and practical uses of tin-glazed clay sculpture. His terracotta works are recognizable for their highly refined modeling of serene faces and graceful drapery, their luminous surfaces, and their brilliant colors.
Although Luca and Andrea both carefully guarded their tin-glazing techniques, an early form of corporate espionage resulted in these methods being leaked, allowing competitors—such as Benedetto Buglioni, who crafted M&G’s Pair of Angels with Candlesticks—to share the profitability of glazed terracotta. Others, like Andrea’s son, Girolamo della Robbia, built on the families’ advances and developed firing processes needed for extremely large pieces, like M&G’s terracotta busts of French royalty.
Savonarola, a contemporary of Andrea, was a fiery preacher calling for reform within the Roman Catholic Church. He was not anti-art, but was critical of excessive ornamentation and sensuous beauty in religious art. He fostered art that reflected humility, repentance, and Christian devotion. There is documented evidence that contemporary Florentine artists such as Botticelli, were followers of Savonarola. Their works show dramatic stylistic shifts as Savonarola rose to prominence, as illustrated by M&G’s Botticelli tondo.
Art historians, including Sir John Pope-Hennessy and Franco Gentilini, have noted that Andrea’s later works resonate with what Savonarola described as “semplicità devota” (devout simplicity). Andrea increasingly favored simpler compositions and less exuberant ornamentation. His later images of the Virgin portray a quiet gravity rather than the courtly sweetness seen in both Luca’s works and Andrea’s earlier productions. There is no documentary evidence of a personal or ideological connection between Andrea and Savonarola; however, Andrea’s later works reflect the tone and purpose of the religious reform Savonarola advocated. One expert noted that M&G’s Sorrowing Virgin aligns not with Andrea’s early works, created under his uncle’s tutelage, but with those from his later period, “when he, himself was in control” of the studio.
The Same Molds
Andrea della Robbia’s wall-mounted glazed terracotta reliefs of the Virgin and Child were highly popular. The graceful, serene expression of the Virgin and the strong, confident appearance of the infant Christ reflect a devotional mood suitable for chapels, hospitals, orphanages, and private homes. These works also embody the “devout simplicity” endorsed by Savonarola.
While the background and frames vary considerably, the figures themselves were likely produced from the same molds. Minor variations can be as seen in details such as the Virgin’s head covering or placement of her right hand. Occasionally more significant variations occur, such as a swaddled Christ seated on His mother’s lap. These and other works that appear to derive from the same molds, can be found in situ in Italy, and in museums and private collections worldwide. Some have direct provenance to Andrea and his studio. A repeated detail also seen in M&G’s piece, is the decorative, single slipped reef knot on Mary’s belt, an Italian Renaissance symbol for purity.
M&G’s Sorrowing Virgin is unsigned; few Italian Renaissance terracotta pieces are, but some of the molds used to make Andrea’s wall-mounted reliefs of the Virgin and Child, as well as other works from his studio, appear to have been used in forming M&G’s piece. Experts agree that these and other similarities justify attributing M&G’s Sorrowing Virgin to Andrea and his studio.
M&G’s Sorrowing Virgin
The first known reference to M&G’s piece is in Allan Marquand’s 1922 Andrea Della Robbia and His Atelier. Marquand describes the sculpture, stating, “This much injured half figure of the Virgin is only partially glazed,” that in 1920 it was owned by the New York art dealership French & Co., and that it had received some conservation treatment.
It is possible that the piece experienced a kiln disaster during the firing to affix the glazes. Its extensive damage and conservation are in keeping with this scenario.
- The right side of the sculpture is glazed in standard colors for Renaissance terracotta. However, during conservation, areas not usually damaged by normal wear, received in-painting.
- The left side required extensive repair and was painted brown. It is unknown if any glazing survives beneath the paint.
- During the Renaissance, a permanent red glaze was impossible; artists often glazed areas brown and painted them red after firing. The Virgin’s dress is finished in a brown glaze, but the color intended for it is unknown.
- A firing problem could explain the very dark, unglazed terracotta of Mary’s face, neck, and hands.
The della Robbia studio developed skin-tone glazes, which Andrea used on works intended to be viewed from a distance. For more intimate sculptures, leaving the skin unglazed resulted in a pale brown, matte surface. Set against the high gloss of their glazed surroundings, these matte areas appeared as soft flesh. Unglazed clay also allowed for detailed modeling and subtle facial expressions, which would have been obscured by thick glaze. The expressions of the figures became the focal point of the sculpture. In keeping with Savonarola’s message, unglazed terracotta would convey the Virgin’s suffering more powerfully than a polished surface would.
The Virgin Mary knew her Son, Jesus Christ, was the Messiah, the God-sent Redeemer. Her sorrow at His crucifixion stemmed from His unjust treatment and excruciating suffering. That sorrow would have been tempered by what the angel Gabriel had told her as His miraculous birth was described. He, the Son of God, would not only be her Redeemer, but He would also be an Everlasting King. Believing God, she had both hope and peace with her sorrow. All of which can be seen in the face of Andrea della Robbia’s Sorrowing Virgin.
William Pinkston, retired educator and M&G volunteer
Suggested References
Cambareri, Marietta. Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence (Boston: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, MA. 2016)
Marquand, Allan. Andrea Della Robbia and His Atelier (Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ. 1922)
Published 2026
This beautiful modello preserves the near final version of one of Benjamin West’s lost paintings.
To learn more about the entire series to which this study image belongs, visit here.
