A Florentine marble relief of the Man of Sorrows, from the workshop of Gregorio di Lorenzo (circa 1436-1504) circa 1480

traces of gilding, the reverse with a square, stepped aperture carved with a cross in center, perhaps serving as a reliquary

Standard wear and surface abrasions (particularly to high points: tip of nose, eyebrow, eye lids and top of head). Chipping to edges throughout including top half of halo and edges of relief. Traces of gilding and gesso. Natural variations in color and inclusions to marble. Old nails on underside. Small reliquary receptical on reverse with screw below.
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The present relief relates directly to the work of Gregorio di Lorenzo, previously called the 'Master of the Marble Madonnas', a name first given to the then anonymous master by Wilhelm von Bode in the late 19th Century. Recent work by various scholars, including that of Alfredo Bellandi (see Bellandi, op. cit.) has identified this Florentine sculptor. Gregorio's  sculptures are characterized by a combination of high relief (for the heads) and low relief (often employed for the hands and drapery), heavily lidded eyes and down-cast gaze, square jaw line and an overall "feline" appearance to the face. Trained in the workshop of Mino da Fiesole and influenced by Antonio Rossellino, several of his reliefs of the Virgin and Child exist in museums such as the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The Master's workshop also produced marble busts and reliefs of the suffering Christ as well as busts of children. Two busts of Christ in relief by Gregorio, one in the Bode Museum, Berlin and another  in the Palazzo Venezia, Rome (Pisano, op. cit., p.148), are of similar proportions, design (including the moulded border) and details, including the nimbus and the long waves of hair terminating in small, tight curls. A bust of Christ in the Museé de la Chartreuse, Douai also displays the same facial characteristics as the present piece (Pisano, op. cit., pp. 152-3).

RELATED LITERATURE

L. Pisano, 'Per il "Maestro delle Madonne di Marmo": Una rilettura ed una proposta di identificazione' in Prospettiva, 106-7, 2002, pp. 144-65
F. Caglioti, "Su Matteo Civitali Scultore" in Matteo Civitali e il Suo Tempo..., (exh. cat.), Milan, 2004, pp. 29-77, fig. 51
A. Bellandi, Gregorio di Lorenzo: Il Maestro delle Madonne di Marmo; Uno scultore e la sua bottega nel Rinascimento, Morbio Inferirore, 2006