Italian, Florentine, circa 1600

the perizonium heightened with later gilding

Overall the condition of the bronze is very good with some minor wear to the patina consistent with age. There is a visible plug above the proper right knee and the gilding on the perizonium may have been refreshed.
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This beautiful corpus is related to the series of small corpora produced in Florence around 1600 by Giambologna and his followers.  The delicate modelling of Christ's body and refined treatment of the hair and beard are influenced by Giambologna's Cristo morto in Santa Maria degli Angiolini, Florence or those in San Marco, Florence and the Musée Municipal de la Chartreuse, Douai. They share in particular a deep sensitivity in the slender figure of Christ and the pathos of His down turned head.

The differences between Giambologna's models and the present Cristo morto are, however, as revealing as their affinities. The hands on the present bronze are precisely articulated and seem to convey more of Christ's suffering than the relaxed grace of the hands in Giambologna's models. This heightened emotion is repeated in the distinctly furrowed brows which animate the face in a manner totally  alien to Giambologna's conception. The perizonium although knotted on Christ's right hip in keeping with all the versions mentioned above is in other respects very distinctive. It is formed in a rectangular shape, giving the appearance of shorts, rather than raised on one side.  The modelling is also flat, lacking any of the neat grooves characteristic of the finishing of Antonio Susini, and there is no attempt to add any fringing as appears in many of the models ascribed to Giambologna.

Certainly, there were many highly skilled sculptors working in Giambologna's orbit who inevitably responded to his dominant aesthetic. The sculptor of this moving Cristo morto would seem to be one who was able to introduce a measure of originality to his work, suggesting someone who was not solely trained in the Florentine system.  One such sculptor is Felice Palma whose training with Tiziano Aspetti allowed him to fuse the influences of Venetian and Florentine sculpture, combined with an appreciation of Roman sculptors, especially Michelangelo. The feeling of deep spirituality in the present corpus may be compared to Palma's large Christ in the Cappella Usimbardi in Santa Trinita, Florence and the furrowed brows are repeated in the figure of Noah in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.