AFTER GUGLIELMO DELLA PORTA (ITALIAN, 1515-1577): A STUCCO RELIEF OF THE DEPOSITION OF CHRIST, PROBABLY 17TH CENTURY depicting Christ's body in the foreground, supported by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene leaning forward to kiss the wrist of Christ and the Virgin fainting to the centre, with the cross in the background flanked by the two thieves, with onlookers to the sides, in a rectangular, fruitwood frame, the panel 52cm high x 38cm wide, 63.5cm high overall Della Porta's study of the present composition dating from 1555-1559 is now in the Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, and the marble relief is in the Museo d'Arte Antica, Milan. Numerous bronze plaquettes of this composition are also known. It is thought that Giambologna based his own designs for the Grimaldi chapel on Della Porta's Passion scenes such as the present example. Related Literature: M. Weitzel Gibbons, 'Giambologna: Narrator of the Catholic Reformation', p. 141.