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The Entombment
The Entombment

The Entombment

Camillo Pacetti (Italian, 1758–1826)
Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822)
about 1800
Object PlaceItaly
Medium/TechniqueTerracotta
DimensionsOverall: 30 x 39.2 x 19.4 cm (11 13/16 x 15 7/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
Credit LineH. E. Bolles Fund
Accession number56.305
On View
On view
ClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Description
This may have been a sketch for a work in marble, but it would have been difficult to translate the composition into such a heavy material, given the way Christ's body hangs free, with no support from below. The clay is very loosely worked, and the faces lack much detail. Rather, it is the sense of the struggle to move the body with care, the expressive postures of the other figures, and the weighty drapery that create a sense of sorrow and grief.
Provenance1953, Julius Wilhelm Böhler, Lucerne; September 1953, sold by Böhler to Galerie Julius Böhler, Munich; 1956, sold by Julius Böhler to the MFA for $700. (Accession Date: May 10, 1956)