The Three Marys at the Tomb (Annibale Carraci)

The Three Marys at the Tomb, The Three Marys or The Pious Women at Christ's Tomb is a c.1600 oil on canvas painting by Annibale Carraci, now in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, which acquired it in 1836.[1][2]

The Pious Women at the Tomb, 1604-1605, by Annibale's pupil Francesco Albani, also in the Hermitage
The Three Marys at the Tomb (c. 1600) by Annibale Carracci
Print after the work by Jean-Louis Roullet, 1680-1695

It was commissioned by Lelio Pasqualini (1549-1611), a native of Bologna then resident in Rome, where he was a canon at Santa Maria Maggiore, who owned one of the most notable antiquarian collections of the time. Its unusual composition may be linked to Pasqualini's antiquarian interests - he owned one of the most notable collections of the time.[1] It is one of the best examples of Annibale's synthesis of the artists then active in Rome, as also seen in The Loves of the Gods frescoes around 1600[3] In this work we specifically see the influence of classical sculpture and Raphael, particularly the latter's cartoons for the Vatican tapestries.[3] It is typical of his style in Rome but still linked to his early style - Mary Magdalene's red and gold dress is almost identical to Good Fortune or Happiness in his Allegory of Truth and Time (Hampton Court), painted about fifteen years earlier[1]

In his 1678 Felsina Pittrice, Carlo Cesare Malvasia wrote that in Naples he had seen "at the home of Lord Duke della Torre, nephew of Lord Cardinal Filomarino, Archbishop of that City, the famous painting commonly called 'The Three Marys'; that is, the same one also known as the most gracious Angel in vestments at the monument, an unmatched painting, made by Annibale for his beloved countryman, the antiquarian Pasqualini, from whom it passed by inheritance to Monsig. Agucchi and after the death of the Prelate and Nuncio of Venice to the aforementioned Lord Cardinal, who three times refused an offer from the King of England to exchange it for three chamber tapestries". The dukes later sold the work and it passed through several collections, including that of Lucien Bonaparte, before reaching its present owner.

References
  1. Carel Van Tuyll Van Serooskerken, in Annibale Carracci, Catalogo della mostra Bologna e Roma 2006-2007 (a cura di D. Benati e E. Riccomini), Milano, 2006, p. 378.
  2. "Catalogue entry" (in Italian).
  3. Donald Posner, Annibale Carracci: A Study in the reform of Italian Painting around 1590, London, 1971, Vol. I, pp. 111-112.
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