The Lamentation of Christ

An example of work by Raphael’s father, Giovanni Santi. He was a poet, painter and chronicler at the court of Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino, and his paintings combine idealism and peacefulness with realistic observation. Research proved that the painting’s background represents a specific landscape near Pesaro as seen from the Church of St Bernard in Montecchio. The muted colouring of the canvas is unintentional – merely a consequence of the 1880 fire in the chapel of the Rysiowice palace in Silesia, for which the painting was purchased in Italy.