This astonishing picture of about 1582—as direct in its emotional impact as in its painterly technique—is a pillar of the reform of painting initiated in Bologna by the Carracci, Ludovico and his cousins Annibale (1560–1609) and Agostino (1557–1602). Based on a return to nature and a study of the great masters of the Renaissance in northern Italy and Venice, the Carracci reform would revolutionize European painting and lay the groundwork for Baroque art.

The figure of Christ has been taken from a posed model and is painted with an almost shocking lack of idealization. His right hand is distorted, as though it had been broken in the process of taking him down from the cross. The Virgin, unconscious with grief, is shown as plain and middle-aged rather than conventionally young and beautiful. Ludovico insists on an emotionally charged, even dissonant, image and has used light to enhance the effect of a physically present event: diffuse around Christ's feet, it falls with increasing strength on his chest and head.

Painted for Alessandro Tanari, papal treasurer in Bologna, The Lamentation remained with his descendants until about 1820–30. All trace of it was then lost until last year, when it reappeared at auction. It is now a keystone of the Metropolitan's expanding and distinguished collection of Baroque paintings.