The Deposition- (Puglia)

Archconfraternity of S. Croce, SS. Trinity and Maria Addolorata in S. Francesco

Among the main works of art commissioned by the Archconfraternity for the Church of S. Francesco and for the adjacent oratory, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows, are the wooden Crucifix, the sandstone altar of the Crucifix in the Church and the large canvas of the Deposition in the Chapel of the Addolorata of the Archconfraternity. The latter is an oil on canvas by an unknown southern painter, bearing the inscription of the year 1696. The painting is undoubtedly the remarkable piece of the sacred furnishings of the Chapel of the Addolorata, and is very interesting as an elaborate synthesis of various themes. iconographic: the work represents a Deposition, even if the Dead Christ is missing; indeed, the Cross that stands out in the center of the painting is not the Cross of the Passion (even if a gush of blood gushes from the holy wood, at the height that Jesus' feet probably would have had), but it is precisely the Cross of Triumph, placed as it is frontally, a completely abstract symbol, metaphysical and in contrast with the two close but crooked crosses of the robbers. On them, the unregulated articulation of the muscularly dilated bodies, which contrasts with the linearism of the figures below, and interested in the approach of the little angel and the little devil respectively, further enhances the symbol of the Cross. At its feet, the opening of two groups of knights, in a multiplication of blades and heads, acts as a backdrop for the desolate group of the Marys and the indifferent group of dice players, among which the one on the right stands out, with a particular armor with metal cones on the chest.