Getty Museum
Virgin Mourning the Dead Christ
Creator
Cesare TargoneItalian Artist · 1575–1590
All works by this person →Prior to the discovery of the signed relief of *The Virgin Mourning the Dead Christ*, now in the Getty Museum's collection, goldsmith Cesare Targone was known only from inventory documents. Although he signed this work *OPUS. CESARIS. TAR. VENETI*, indicating a Venetian origin, the style of his work suggests that he was probably trained in Rome. Supporting this conjecture is a document indicating
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1582–1584; frame and box about 1850
- Medium
- Repoussé gold relief on obsidian background (in a black and gold wood frame of circa 1850)
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Sculpture
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Clasping her hands to her chest, the grieving Virgin Mary looks upon the naked body of the dead Christ. His muscular figure reclines on a cloth stretched out upon a rocky ground. Swathed in heavy drapery, the Virgin, looking aged and worn, sways back as she tilts her head forward. Silhouetted against the dark, empty background, she gives visual expression to the emotional poignancy of the scene. Sculptor Cesare Targone rejected the traditional narrative emphasis of images of the grieving Virgin. He eliminated almost all references to the Crucifixion or Christ's other mourners, focusing solely on the Virgin Mary's sorrow, which then becomes a model for the viewer's response to the dead Christ. This devotional object, made of finely chased embossed gold on black obsidian, may have originally been set into a tabernacle door above an altar.
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