Maestro del Compianto sul Cristo Morto di San Giacomo, Soncino Italian, late 15th century

private collection, Italy

There is dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There are a number of restored breaks to the sculpture, including to the neck at the proper left side; to the torso from the proper left shoulder down to the proper right side of the abdomen; to the hands; to the head and shoulder on the proper right side; and to the back on the proper left side. There are a number of losses, including: to Christ's wrists and the ropes binding them; to Christ's proper right forearm and drapery; to the drapery at his proper left elbow; and to the back of the sculpture at the bottom on both sides.sThere is a small hole in the top of the head; there are two large openings in the head and in the back. There are also opening to behind the wrists and to behind each elbow. There is a smaller loss below Christ's hands. There are various small chips, abrasions and scratches to the surface. The interior has been lined with plaster.
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This expressive, vigorously modelled, Ecce Homo relates to the work of a number of important Lombard artists working in the second half of the 15th century, notably Agostino de' Fondulis (circa 1483-1501), Rinaldo de Staulis (circa 1450-1494) and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (circa 1447-1522). Terracotta was used to create a number of moving, startlingly dramatic, lamentation groups in Northern Italy at this time, famously by Niccolò dell'Arca in his Compianto sul Cristo morto in the church of S. Maria della Vita in Bologna (second half 15th century) and Agostino de' Fondulis in the Sepolcro di Cristo, formerly in the church of S. Maria e Santo Spirito, Cremona (circa 1498). One of the most important terracotta lamentation groups dating from the last decades of the 15th century is the Compianto sul Cristo morto in the church of San Giacomo, Soncino, Cremona. This work had previously been attributed to Fondulis by Carubelli, but is today widely identified as being by an anonymous Cremonese sculptor, the Maestro del Compianto sul Cristo morto di San Giacomo, Soncino (Bandera, op. cit., p. 186). It is to this master that Alfredo Bellandi has attributed the present Ecce Homo. The clear stylistic correspondences between the bust and the Soncino group provide grounds for Bellandi's attribution. Note, in particular, the same raw, abstracted, physiognomy and the simplified drapery with prominent thick folds. The Ecce Homo has very similar sunken cheeks and thick parted lips as the St John in the Soncino group, whilst the hair and beard, delineated with deep striations, recall that of a number of the other figures. Although the pose itself follows an essentially standardised iconography, which is linked to Antonello da Messina's model in the Collegio Alberoni, Piacenza according to Bellandi, it is notable that the present figure is presented in a very similar way to the dead Christ in the Soncino group, with head tilted forward and hands bound. Bellandi's attribution is given added credence by the closeness of the present bust to works by other sculptors operating in and around Cremona in the late 15th century, in particular Fondulus: note the same bulging eyes and striated hair in the latter's running figure from his San Martino group (Bandera, op. cit., p. 143). Only a sculptor active in the Po valley, where clay had been used by artists such as Amadeo on the cloisters of the Certosa di Pavia to dramatic effect and where the paintings of Andrea Mantegna (circa 1431-1506) had a profound impact, could have executed such an image in terracotta, which is stark in its realism, but conversely abstracted. It is likely that the present Ecce Homo would have originally been placed in an elevated position, surmounting an altar, where the viewer could have fully experienced the expressive power of this harrowing image.

RELATED LITERATURE
S. Bandiera, Agostino de 'Fondulis, Bergamo 1997, pp. 143, 186; A. Bellandi, Maestro del Compianto sul Cristo morto di San Giacomo maggiore a Soncino di Cremona (scultore attivo in Lombardia nella seconda metà del Quattrocento, Florence, 2012 (unpublished expertise)

The present lot is accompanied by an expertise written by Dr Alfredo Bellandi, dated 18 December 2012.