Piety with Saints John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, Nicodemo and Joseph of Arimathea – Galleri degli Uffizi – Florence

The painting, together with the Prayer in the Garden and the Crucifixion, was executed by Perugino for the Ingesuati convent that was outside the city walls of Florence.

At the center of the composition Christ, deposed from the cross, now stiffened by rigor mortis and bloodless, is supported by his Mother in the center while Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Mary Magdalene, on the sides, hold his head and feet respectively; standing on the left, a saint maybe identifiable with Nicodemus, while on the right Saint John of Arimathea, mourn the Messiah’s death.

The composition recalls the model of the Vesperbilder, that is to say Madonnas in piety of German iconographic tradition, and Perugino repeated this scheme in other Central Italian works; the tone is dramatic and meditative, following the Savonarolian policy.

The convent of the Ingesuati was destroyed in 1531 during the siege of Florence, so the friars moved to San Giovannino della Calza together with their belongings. During the second decade of the seventeenth century the painting was transferred by will of Margaret of Austria to adorn the chapel of Villa dell’Imperiale, then it wa smove again to to Palazzo Pitti before being requisitioned byNapoleon’s troops. Fortunately, the panel was then retrieved from France, and it was in Pitti collection, then to the Accademia and finally placed in the Uffizi.

The work is preserved at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.