courtesy Governorate of Vatican City State
CV NEWS FEED // An exhibit featuring a painting that was hidden for centuries is set to open at the Vatican Museum March 20.
Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna was the original painter of the artwork, which depicts Jesus being laid in the tomb, according to a March 18 article of the Catholic Standard. Mantegna, an Italian painter who lived from 1431-1506, was considered a Renaissance master, according to the article.
The painting, which will be on display in the picture gallery in an exhibit titled “The Mantegna of Pompei. A Rediscovered Masterpiece,” reportedly had been forgotten for centuries because it was hidden beneath layers of overpainting, according to the article. The painting later “surfaced” at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, the Catholic Standard reports.
The Vatican Museums led the project to fully restore the painting by carefully removing the heavy overpainting, according to the Catholic Standard.
In the article, Fabrizio Biferali, curator of 15th- and 16th-century artwork for the Vatican Museums, commented on the painting’s authenticity.
“Its iconography,” Biferali said, “is connected to Renaissance models and classicism typical of the artist, with references to antiquity that make it unique in Mantegna’s work.”
