Attributed to Agostino de Fondulis (fl. 1483-1522) Italian, Lombardy, late 15th century/ early 16th century

Heim Gallery, London, 1972;
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York,
his sale, Sotheby's New York, 29 January 2010, lot 420;
private collection, London

London, Heim Gallery, Sculptures of the 15th and 16th centuries: summer exhibition,1972, no. 40;
Washington, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Fingerprints of the artist: European sculpture from the Arthur M. Sackler collections, 1979-1982, no. 1;
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, European terracottas from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 1981, no. 3;
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, European Terracotta sculpture from the Arthur M. Sackler collections,1987-1988, no. 1

V. Sgarbi (ed.), La scultura al tempo di Andrea Mantegna, exh. cat. Castello di San Giorgio, Mantua, and the Palazzo San Sebastiano, Mantua, 2006, p. 100

Overall the condition of the terracotta is very good, with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There are a few small restorations to the nose and possibly to the shirt. There are small losses to the edges of the drapery and the bust. Much of the original polychromy survives. There is wear throughout. The paint may be refreshed in some areas. There may be a few further restorations including to the tips of the beard. There are a few small stable fissures in the polychromy, including to the neck and behind the beard.
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The dramatic realism portrayed in the present bust of Christ is analogous to the pathos evident in the work of sculptors such as Niccolò dell'Arca (1435-94) and Guido Mazzoni (active 1473-1518) both of whom worked in Lombardy. This bust was previously given to the circle of Mazzoni, partly based on strong comparisons with the facial types in his famous Lamentation group from Sant'Antonio di Castello, Venice (now in the Museo Civico, Padua).

Sgarbi (op. cit.), however, discusses another nearly identical bust of Christ as the Man of Sorrows and suggests that the profound emotion and quiet majesty of the Sackler and Sgarbi busts share similarities with the work of Lombard artists such as Agostino de Fondulis, who trained with his father Giovanni, with followers of Donatello. Agostino's naturalistically painted terracotta Pietà group with 14 figures for the church of S Maria Presso S Satiro was inspired both by Paduan late Gothic naturalism and by the classicism of Andrea Mantegna.

The iconography of the present bust was most commonly adopted in Florence and developed in the workshop of Verrocchio in the latter part of the 15th century. The profoundly personal depiction of suffering, underscored by the adept modeling of the high cheekbones, arched eyebrows, deep creases around the eyes and neck and beautifully spiralled twists of hair would have been intended for domestic veneration.

RELATED LITERATURE
S.B. Bistoletti, Agostino De Fondulis e la rescoperta della terracotta nel Rinascimento lombardo, 1997, Crema

A Report on Thermoluminescence Analysis from Oxford Research Laboratory for Archeology and the History of Art indicates that sample no. 281 p88, 1979, was last fired 630 to 390 years ago (1349-1589).