Description: The two figures recur almost identically in a painting by Perugino, "The dead Christ accompanied by Nicodemus and Joseph of Aritmathea", now in the Clark Institute, Williamstown, Mass. That painting is usually dated about 1498 but could conceivably have been done shortly after 1500. The drawing shows the dead Christ in a more upright position, with his left arm held differently by the supporter (Nicodemus), whose head is bearded and closer to Christ's. It does not include the other man, whom Frankfurter (1957) regards as a later addition to the painting.
Our sheet could be a copy after a "garzone" study by Perugino for the painting, in which case the head should be sought among artists who had access to Perugino's studio. The drawing has been compared by Terisio Pignatti with a sheet in the British Museum that is definitely by de' Barbari. While this artist did not belong to Perugino's circle, an active period in Urbino has been assumed on the basis of an attribution, albeit very controversial, to him of a double portrait, dated 1495, of Luca Pacioli and Duke Guidobaldo.
A small number of chalk drawings of a similar kind have been attributed, mostly on uncertain grounds, to various Umbrian artists. One group has been identified with Timoteo Viti, whom Ugo Ruggieri also proposes as the master of our sheet, comparing it with studies in the British Museum that were formerly attributed to Jacopo de' Barbari. Another name that has been mentioned is Lo Spagna.  [Also see Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 4; 403] [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1057]

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Okänd | Den döde Kristus | Nationalmuseum

Okänd | The Dead Christ | Nationalmuseum

Foto: Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum 2018