Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Lippo di Benivieni (active c. 1296–1327) was a Florentine painter working in the transition between the late Byzantine manner and the revolutionary naturalism of Giotto. This 'Lamentation over the Dead Christ' from around 1320, now at the Fogg Museum, depicts one of the most emotionally charged scenes in Christian art — the mourning over Christ's body after the Deposition. Lippo's work occupies a fascinating middle ground, retaining the expressive intensity of the older style while absorbing elements of Giotto's spatial and emotional innovations.

Executed in egg tempera and gold on wood panel, the painting combines Byzantine conventions — gold ground, hieratic scale — with Giottesque elements such as volumetric drapery folds and emotionally expressive gestures. The compressed composition heightens the drama of the mourning figures gathered around Christ.