An important Italian relief for Nuremberg

15/3/26 - Acquisition - Nüremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum - Revealed to the public for the first time in early March, an unprecedented masterpiece of late eighteenth-century Roman goldsmithing has taken its place at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. Initially displayed temporarily for two months, this large silver relief of the Lamentation of Christ, created in the workshop of Luigi Valadier (ill. 1), will eventually join the permanent display within the museum’s extensive interdisciplinary section Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment. Art and culture from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Acquired in 2024 from a private collector, through Philipp Württemberg Art Advisory and with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, the Cultural Foundation of the German States, the Rudolf August Oetker Foundation, and other private foundations, the work is currently the subject of an in-depth study, to be published in 2027.

In its press release, detailed catalogue entry, and a short video recently published, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum has already clarified several important aspects regarding the iconography, provenance, and virtuoso technique of this new relief. Mounted on a rectangular frame, more than one meter high, with a dark blue mosaic background imitating lapis lazuli and a brass border crowned with a knotted ribbon, the central silver composition is itself enclosed within a frame of gilded bronze and porphyry adorned with twenty-six silver rosettes. Four silver angels decorate its corners, supporting it at the lower part and resting at the top while holding a fine gold crown of thorns. The Lamentation of Christ depicted in the central section follows an established model whose invention is attributed to Angelo De Rossi, who repeatedly adapted the subject after arriving in Rome in 1685. Notable examples include the bronze plaque at Palazzo Doria in Genoa, two wax bozzetti of the same form held in a private collection in Rome and at the Musée Calvet in Avignon, as well as several preparatory pen drawings at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. Lying on a shroud, the dead Christ rests on the Virgin’s joined hands, to the left of which is placed a vase from which a cloth flows. To the right are Mary Magdalene, with her ointment jar, leaning over Christ, and Saint John standing in profile, his head turned toward the Cross erected on Golgotha in the background. Here the most notable differences from the original composition appear: the beams radiating from the cross, the placement of clouds, and the addition of a host of cherubs. Cast, chased, engraved, stamped, polished, or amati, the silverwork is virtuosic, offering a wide range of finishes preserved in exceptional condition. Finally, the relief comes with its original case, likely custom-made in Valadier’s workshop.

As the catalogue entry notes, the central silver relief, its frame of gilded bronze and porphyry, and the four angel figures can be attributed with certainty to Luigi Valadier’s workshop in Rome thanks to a workshop drawing preserved in private hands (ill. 2). This drawing is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue Valadier: three generations of Roman goldsmiths, presented in spring 1991 by David Carritt Limited in London (now known as Artemis Fine Arts), where it was not then linked to any known commission. The relief is also mentioned in several archival documents shedding light on its provenance. Among them is a letter from Duchess Marie-Anne of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, dated between 1815 and 1817, stating: « this image we received from the godfather of our beloved son, the late His Holiness Pius VI, in remembrance of our spiritual bond, namely the Descent from the Cross of Our Savior, in silver, in relief, with a border of reddish-brown porphyry and an upper frame in mosaic, three Bavarian feet high… ». An inscription at the Banz Abbey, the summer residence of the duchess and her husband Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria from 1814, where it is attested that the relief formed the centerpiece of an alabaster altarpiece in the family’s private chapel from 1817, confirms that this papal gift dates from 1786, the year of the birth of their son Pius-Augustus in Bavaria. The pope and the duchess had met four years earlier during the brief pontiff’s stay in Bavaria, during which he diplomatically promised to be the godfather of the heir, then destined to become elector. This silver relief of the Lamentation of Christ, called the “Pius altarpiece” after its donor, would thus be one of Luigi Valadier’s last works, as he committed suicide in 1785. It would also be the final papal commission executed in the workshop, which, as noted in the catalogue of the exhibition Luigi Valadier: Splendor in Eighteenth-Century Rome held by the Frick Collection in New York in 2018–2019, produced many works for Pope Pius VI, a series of liturgical objects in the year of his election in 1775, as well as various diplomatic gifts thereafter.