Christ Bearing the Soul of the Virgin

Roberto Longhi was the first to identify it as a fragment of the upper register of Death of the Virgin (Prado), probably for the private chapel of Ludovico III Gonzaga in the Castello di San Giorgio in Mantua. At its base is the arch which links it to the main painting. The design and decorative scheme for Ludovico's chapel was Mantegna's first official commission – he became court painter in 1460, but negotiations to bring him to court had begun three years earlier. During the 16th century the chapel was rebuilt and redecorated, with the 15th-century paintings and decorations removed, though the 16th-century scheme itself was later destroyed. Death of the Virgin ended up in Ferrara, as shown by its appearance in a 1588 inventory listing it as among the paintings in the small private chapel of Margherita Gonzaga, wife of Alfonso II d'Este. The part of the work showing Christ and the Virgin's soul may have been removed at this time to fit the work into its smaller new home.^[4]