Alessandro Turchi

ALESSANDRO TURCHI (Verona, 1578 - Rome, 1649).
"Lamentation over the dead Christ", ca. 1620.
Oil on copper.
It has slight flaws and restorations.
Frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 44.5 x 53 cm; 54 x 63.5 x 3.5 cm (frame).

Alessandro Turchi developed the biblical theme of the "Lamentation over the dead Christ" on several occasions. In one of his best-known paintings of his extensive output, preserved in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the lifeless body of Jesus is surrounded by Mary Magdalene and four gesticulating angels. The anatomies sculpted by the light, the dramatism of the gestures and the expressiveness of the countenances in the Borghese painting show remarkable stylistic similarities with the present oil painting. With a fully baroque language, in this masterful oil on copper Turchi composes a moving scene, full of emotional nooks and crannies. Thus, the smallest angel rests his little head on the helpless arm of Christ, as a child would do before his dead father. Another angel opens his arms and fixes his gaze on the cherub's tender gesture. The Virgin, draped under veils and overlapping cloaks, contrasts with the light dress of Mary Magdalene, whose golden hair cascades over her breast. Mary gazes at a Magdalene absorbed in thought, as if wishing her luck in her approaching mystical conversion. John the Evangelist cries out to heaven, raising his arms and rolling his eyes. A third angel closes the scene. The large gray rock strewn with sparse vegetation obscures the space in the background, except for the glimmer of sunlight. This solution responds to the intention of highlighting, by contrast, the illumination that seems to emerge from the center of each body, sculpting them from within. This is the result of a masterful handling of light. The contrast between the luminous bodies and the dark backgrounds was a constant in the paintings where Turchi treated this theme. Turchi's works on other biblical themes also share a similar composition, such as "Erminia Finds Tancred Wounded", from the Hermitage Museum. Tancred's anatomy is very similar to that of our dead Christ. This is a mature work by Turchi, in which he reaches his own style resulting from the fusion of Baroque dynamism with classical idealism influenced by the Carracci, to which is added the Veronese heritage in the sensualist treatment of colors.

The scene of the lamentation or weeping over the body of the dead Christ is part of the cycle of the Passion, and is interspersed between the Descent from the Cross and the Holy Burial. It is a very emotional theme, the fruit of popular piety, which concentrates attention on the drama of the Passion and the loving and mournful contemplation, with a realistic and moving sense.

Alessandro Turchi, also nicknamed l'Orbetto was an Italian painter, active during the Baroque period. The son of a swordsmith, he accompanied his father through the streets of Verona when the latter, victim of an accident at work, became blind and was forced to beg for alms to survive. Hence his nickname of l'Orbetto ("the little blind man"). He began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Felice Brusasorci (1597). His first Veronese works are ambitious, with multiple figures and elaborate backgrounds, in the tradition of which Paolo Veronese is the greatest exponent. In 1609, Turchi was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona. However, shortly after, he will go to Venice with his pupil Marcantonio Bassetti, to later settle in Rome around 1614-15. There he collaborated in the decoration of the Sala Regia of the Palazzo del Quirinale, together with some of the best artists of his time, such as Giovanni Lanfranco and Carlo Saraceni. In 1618 he was admitted as a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, of which he became Primo rettore in 1634 and Prince in 1637, thanks to the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini. In 1638 he became a member of the pontifical Accademia dei Virtuosi. Established definitively in Rome in 1619, he found great patrons who gave him prestige and wealth. One of the main ones was Cardinal Scipione Borghese. From these years date a large number of altar cloths for the main Roman churches. He continued to work for clients in his homeland of Verona, but never returned to reside in that city, except for brief visits. In 1623 he married Lucia Sangiuliano. Their daughter Cecilia would be the wife of the painter Giacinto Gimignani (1640).

Selection of works: Resurrection of Lazarus (1617, Galleria Borghese, Rome), Dead Christ with the Magdalene and Angels (1617, Galleria Borghese, Rome), The Forty Martyrs (1619, Cappella degli Innocenti, Santo Stefano, Verona), Charity (1620, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), Hope (1620, Institute of Arts, Detroit).
Madonna in Glory with St. Charles Borromeo (c. 1617-21, San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome). Magdalene Penitent (1605, Santo Tommaso Cantuariense, Verona), Music, Poetry, Courage and Fortitude (1606, Windsor Palace, Royal Collection), Adoration of the Shepherds (1608, San Fermo Maggiore, Verona), Assumption of the Virgin (1610, San Luca, Verona), Allegory (1610, Uffizi, Florence), Madonna in Glory with Saints Eligius, Francis and John the Baptist (1612, lost), Victory of the Veronese over the Vincentians at Pontalto (1613, Museum of Castelvecchio, Verona).