Excursion tip for Easter: Munich's Alte Pinakothek shows the restored "Lamentation for Christ"

Created: 04/13/2022, 19:03

By: Katja Kraft

Deep sorrow: Raffaellino del Garbo's "Lamentation for Christ" (1500) © Bayerische Staatsmalereisammlungen

The Alte Pinakothek in Munich has a new format: in "All Eyes on" one work is now regularly singled out and staged in a special way.

Suitable for Easter, this is Raffaellino del Garbo's "Lamentation for Christ".

Freshly restored and still in focus until July 24, 2022.

eyes up and down!

Death is written all over his face.

Jesus' mouth is slightly open, dried blood on his forehead testifies to the torment inflicted on him;

they are stigmata of the crown of thorns.

This Jesus is not lying there as if cast, his body is stiff, rigor mortis has already set in.

Raffaellino del Garbo's "Lamentation for Christ" shows unembellished, in all drastic manner, that Christ has left earthly life.

It is a strong image that the Alte Pinakothek is particularly illuminating in its new series "All Eyes on" until July 24th.

"All eyes on" - all eyes on this, one would like to call out to every art lover, especially in these days just before Easter.

One does not have to be religious, nor Christian, to feel what the Florentine master Raffaellino del Garbo (1466-1527) hoped for when he painted the painting around 1500: Compassion.

How stunning would the altarpiece have been to the beholders in the Nasi family chapel in S. Spirito, for which it was created?

Illuminated by chandeliers in the otherwise gloomy sanctuary, the tears running down the cheeks of the kneeling John the Evangelist and Mother Mary glistened even more impressively than in the museum hall.

Sandro Botticelli's Lamentation for Christ hangs opposite Raffaellino's work in the Alte Pinakothek.

Then Jesus poured out, the rigor mortis is not recognizable here.

© Bavarian State Painting Collections

At the end of the 15th century, a large number of altarpieces were painted in Florence, depicting the Lamentation between the Descent from the Cross and the Entombment.

The artists did not follow strictly what is in the Bible.

Raffaellino, for example, also has John the Baptist and Saint James mourn the death of Jesus – and in doing so cleverly refers to the patron saints of two important members of the founding family.

These representations, called "Pietà", were intended to help the viewer in contemplative immersion in the sense of the Passion meditation.

It is exciting to see how Raffaellino succeeds.

Collection director Andreas Schumacher deliberately hung the painting opposite Sandro Botticelli's "Lamentation for Christ" from 1490/1495.

While the desperation of the bystanders about Christ's death is omnipresent, those surrounding Jesus in Raffaellino's painting appear filled with grief - but composed.

The corpse, cold with rigor mortis, stands out all the more drastically.

The hope of resurrection shimmers through the colors

The surrounding landscape only seems idyllic at first glance: behind the mourners there is a crevice in the rocks, there is a fire on the right edge of the picture, black smoke is drifting in.

A reference to Matthew's Gospel: "The earth trembled and the rocks were rent" (Mt 27:52).

Christ is dead. But the hope of a resurrection shimmers through the colors.

"All eyes on": Hundreds of treasures of European painting are on display in the Alte Pinakothek.

In the future, the “All Eyes on” format will regularly showcase one work in particular.

Until July 24, 2022, "All Eyes On" is dedicated to the "Lamentation for Christ".

Can be seen in Room IV, Tue. and Wed. 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., Thu. to Sun. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.;

further information is available here