Deposition from the cross – Church of Santa Maria dei Servi – Città della Pieve
The church where the two frescoes are located has undergone several works changes over the centuries. The monumental Deposition is still intact, except for the figures of Jesus and Nicodemus, destroyed after the construction of a choir; in the upper part, the dead body of Jesus is freed from the cross thanks to two saints who are reaching him, while the Pious Women are grieving on the left and support the Virgin, who fainted from pain. On the other side, some saints and the apostles are praying. The countryside landscape in the background recalls the Umbrian hills.
The Lamentation, on the facade wall, is very lacking, It is only possible to recognize the Eternal Father, within an almond of light surrounded by angels and, at the bottom, two grieving figures on the left of a niche that originally housed a statue of Christ died in the lap of Our Lady (a Piety).
Both paintings were commissioned to Perugino in 1517 by the Compagnia della Stella, which used to gather in this church, and the painter quickly finished the works in the same year. The model of the Deposition probably derives from a sculptural group by Iacopo Sansovino that Perugino had the opportunity to admire in Rome (today it is located at the Victorian and Albert Museum in London).
The frescoes are preserved at the church of Santa Maria dei Servi.
