The Descent from the Cross

Inscription: Inscribed (on cross): I.N.R.I.

[Elia Volpi, Florence, until 1912; sold to The Met]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Italian Renaissance Frames," June 5, 1990–January 6, 1991, not in catalogue.

B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "Deposition from the Cross." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7 (November 1912), pp. 216–17, ill., as Florentine School, early sixteenth century, probably by a close follower of Filippino Lippi who had access to his sketches; notes the work's connection to Lippi's altarpiece for the Annunziata (now Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence), believing that it gives an idea of Lippi's original conception, before the altarpiece was modified and completed by Perugino.

Bryson Burroughs. Catalogue of Paintings. 1st ed. New York, 1914, p. 161, as School of Filippino Lippi.

P[aul]. G. Konody. "Some Italian Masters in Viscount Rothermere's Collection." Apollo 2 (July–December 1925), pp. 190–91, ill., identifies a picture in the Rothermere collection as Lippi's preliminary study for the Annunziata altarpiece, and calls the MMA painting a copy after the Rothermere picture by an unknown minor artist from Lippi's school.

[Georg] Gronau in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. Ed. Hans Vollmer. Vol. 23, Leipzig, 1929, p. 269.

Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 12, The Renaissance Painters of Florence in the 15th Century: The Third Generation. The Hague, 1931, p. 356, fig. 232, believes that it is at least a workshop product.

Alfred Scharf. Filippino Lippi. Vienna, 1935, pp. 107–8, no. 28a, fig. 129, lists it among four copies after Lippi's original composition.

Katharine B. Neilson. Filippino Lippi: A Critical Study. Cambridge, Mass., 1938, pp. 179–82, fig. 91, attributes it to Lippi's workshop and calls it a copy after Lippi's original study.

Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 50–51, ill., attributes it to Lippi's workshop.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 60.

Luciano Berti and Umberto Baldini. Filippino Lippi. Florence, 1957, p. 97, under no. 92.

Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School. New York, 1971, pp. 169–70, ill.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 106, 295, 606, as from the "school, shop, or studio" of Filippino Lippi.

Luciano Berti and Umberto Baldini. Filippino Lippi. Florence, 1991, p. 227.

Jonathan Nelson in Il giardino di San Marco: maestri e compagni del giovane Michelangelo. Ed. Paola Barocchi. Exh. cat., Casa Buonarroti, Florence. [Cinisello Balsamo (Milan)], 1992, pp. 135–36, under no. 30.

Jonathan Nelson. "The Later Works of Filippino Lippi from his Roman Sojourn until his Death (ca. 1489–1504)." PhD diss., New York University, 1992, pp. 249–50, 272, 314, fig. 18a.

Roberta Ferrazza. Palazzo Davanzati e le collezioni di Elia Volpi. Florence, 1993, pp. 113, 139 n. 119, fig. 109.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 30, ill.

Jonathan Nelson. "The High Altar-piece of SS. Annunziata in Florence: History, Form, and Function." Burlington Magazine 139 (February 1997), pp. 87–88, fig. 3, suggests an attribution to Niccolò Cartoni, noting that Everett Fahy includes the picture in an unpublished list of the artist's works.

Important Old Master Paintings. Christie's, New York. May 22, 1998, p. 82, under no. 66, mentions it in connection with the Rothermere version (no. 66), attributed to Niccolò Cartoni on the authority of Everett Fahy.

Jonathan Katz Nelson. "La pala per l'altar maggiore della Santissima Annunziata: la funzione, la commissione, i dipinti e la cornice." Filippino Lippi e Pietro Perugino: la "Deposizione" della Santissima Annunziata e il suo restauro. Ed. Franca Falletti and Jonathan Katz Nelson. Livorno, 2004, pp. 30–34, 42 n. 45, fig. 7 (color), attributes it to the Maestro di Memphis (Niccolò Cartoni).

Rudolf Hiller von Gaertringen. "Il contributo di Perugino alla 'Deposizione' per la chiesa della Santissima Annunziata." Filippino Lippi e Pietro Perugino: la "Deposizione" della Santissima Annunziata e il suo restauro. Ed. Franca Falletti and Jonathan Katz Nelson. Livorno, 2004, p. 45.

Jonathan Katz Nelson in Filippino Lippi. Milan, 2004, pp. 606–7, no. 65.2.

Wiebke Fastenrath Vinattieri. "Studien zu Aufbau, Malerei und Ikonographie des ehemaligen Hochaltars von Santissima Annunziata in Florenz." Pietro Perugino: Die hl. Margarethe von Antiochia und der sel. Franziskus von Siena. Altenburg, 2011, pp. 18, 24, 33 n. 100, notes that this picture and the version in Buenos Aires confirm that Filippino Lippi planned a rectangular format for the Deposition on the high altarpiece of SS. Annunziata.

Matteo Gianeselli. "'The Crossing of the Red Sea' in the Collection of Cardinal Fesch." Burlington Magazine 163 (January 2021), p. 21.

This painting is a copy after Lippi's altarpiece for the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, commissioned in 1503 and completed by Perugino after Lippi's death (Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence; inv. no. 8370).

Three more copies after Lippi's original composition are known: private collection, Buenos Aires (formerly Rothermere and Harmsworth collections; sold, Christie's, New York, May 22, 1998, no. 66); formerly Julius Böhler, Munich; and formerly Bellini, Florence.