The vibrant colors and deep, atmospheric landscape of this painting are hallmarks of the painting of Lotto, a Venetian contemporary of Titian. The small coffin on which the Christ child sits foretells his death, as does the crucifix held by the weeping Saint Jerome. Meditation on the death of Christ was encouraged as a way of understanding Christ’s suffering and man’s redemption. Lotto’s sensitivity to human emotion is evident in the expressions of the saints who flank the Virgin and Child.
More ...1811, Louis Varisco, Paris; 1811, Varisco sale, Paris, no. 8 [see note 1], probably to Joséphine Bonaparte (b. 1763 - d. 1814), Empress of the French, Malmaison, near Paris [see note 2]; by inheritance from Joséphine to her daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais (b. 1783 - d. 1837), Queen of Holland; June 15, 1819, Beauharnais sale, Augsburg, lot 33, unsold; 1820, Beauharnais sale, Augsburg, lot 26, unsold; 1823, Beauharnais sale, Vienna, lot 20, unsold [see note 3]; by descent from Hortense de Beauharnais to her son, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (b. 1808 - d. 1873), Paris and Chislehurst, Kent; August 20, 1840, Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte sale, Christie's, London, lot 142, to Sir John Easthope (d. 1865), 1st Bart., Plas Dulas, Abergele, Denbigshire, Wales, for £33.12; by descent within the family to his great-grandson, Robert McGillivray Dawkins (d. 1955), Oxford and Plas Dulas; November 2, 1955, Dawkins sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 160, to Mr. Johnson. 1960, with Mr. Wright, London; 1960, sold by Wright to Rudolf J. Heinemann (dealer, b. 1902 - d. 1975), New York; 1960, sold by Heinemann to the MFA for $75,000. (Accession Date: March 10, 1960)
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