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Sebastiano Luciani, better known as Sebastiano del Piombo (Venice, 1485 – Rome, June 21st, 1547), trains first with Giovanni Bellini and later with Giorgione. Arriving in Rome in 1511, his work is influenced by Michelangelo Buonarroti, and presents itself as an alternative to Raphael. His fame is attested by the numerous commissions he received which took him not only to Rome, but also to other cities such as Viterbo.
Among the main works are: Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London, National Gallery), Portrait of a Young Woman (Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art - Kress Collection), Portrait of Cardinal Ferry Carondelet (Madrid, Thyssen Collection), Portrait of Cardinal Bandinello Sauli (Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art – Kress Collection), Portrait of Cardinal Reginald Pole (Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum), The Death of Adonis (Florence, Uffizi), The Raising of Lazarus (London, National Gallery), Úbeda Pietà (Madrid, Museo del Prado).
Back in Rome, in 1531, he is appointed to the office of Keeper of the Papal Seal, or “piombo”, which earns him the nickname of “del Piombo”.
The painting was originally placed in the Church of Santa Maria del Paradiso in Viterbo on the commission of Giovanni Botonti, chamberlain of Pope Clement VII.
Long believed to be a workshop copy, today it is considered one of his highest achievements.
Compared to the work created by the artist for the Borgherini chapel in Saint Peter, here Sebastiano drastically reduces the number of figures on the scene to only three. Christ is placed in the centre, as in traditional iconography. The darkness that characterises the background emphasises the solitude of the figure of Christ, destroyed by suffering.
Created in collaboration with Michelangelo Buonarroti and intended for the Botonti chapel in the Church of San Francesco alla Rocca, it is considered to be Sebastiano del Piombo’s great masterpiece. Starting with Vasari, the work was long attributed to Michelangelo (due to the sketches on the back of the altarpiece), attributing only the pictorial execution and the nocturnal landscape to Sebastiano. A hypothesis that is less and less substantiated today. From the iconographic point of view, the work marks a significant change with respect to the traditional images on the Pietà theme of the time: the Virgin Mary does not hold in her arms and, above all, does not look at her son who is laid on the shroud. The figures of Christ and the Madonna, placed in the centre of the painting, are shrouded in darkness in a rural landscape, amidst thermal springs and rustic buildings. According to some studies, the location can be traced back to nowadays thermal area of Viterbo, the same one in which Dante Alighieri set his Inferno. In the background, some civic walls and an inhabited area can be glimpsed, dominated by a stormy night sky and a full moon.
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