Piety – Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio – Florence

In 1990 this painting was brought back to Italy thanks to the Cassa di Risparmio of Florence, who bought it from a London antiques market; originally it was executed by Perugino for the facade of the Oratory of the Sepulchre of Our Lord Jesus Christ, tutelary church of the Florentine family of Albizi built in 1476 by the will of Luca Antonio. The client’s son commitioned the work the work to Perugino, stating that the subject of the paint should have been a Christ just raised from his tomb, simply adorned with red porphyry, supported by the Madonna, wearing heavy clothes, Joseph of Arimathea (or Nicodemus) and Saint John. The atmosphere of the composition is not charged with drama and pathos, the atmosphere is composed and silent, since all the characters are aware of the saving mission of Jesus, following with the strict Savonarolian policy.