Lamentation over the Dead Christ

This relief is probably an early work as the figures of Christ and female mourners with outstretched arms recall compositions by Donatello. The design is sophisticated, though the execution is less refined than other reliefs by Bertoldo (such as the Crucifixion also included in the exhibition) and therefore may have been cast by an associate. The flanking figures of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea may have been added to Bertoldo's design by another artist, as they are somewhat less elegant than the central group. A version in the Louvre appears to be a contemporaneous cast made from a reworked wax model and is likely the source for three known modern casts.