Milan, the two Pietàs that Lucio Fontana made for the Duomo are on display at the Museo Diocesano

From February 27 to May 5, 2019, the Museo Diocesano “Carlo Maria Martini” in Milan is hosting the exhibition Lucio Fontana. The Two Pietà for the Duomo of Milan, which offers a unique opportunity for a close comparison between the two versions of the predella depicting the Pietà, created by Lucio Fontana (Rosario, 1899 - Comabbio, 1968) in 1954 and 1955, and the life sketch for the monumental Altarpiece of the Assumption preserved at the Diocesan Museum of Milan. The initiative, set up in the Museum’s Fontana Room, which houses some of the plaster sketches for the 1950 Fifth Door of the Cathedral competition and the ceramic “white” Stations of the Cross from 1955, allows a reflection on the artist’s sacred creative path.

The Deposition of Christ, a sketch for the predella of the Altarpiece of the Assumption, presented by Lucio Fontana to the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano in 1954, is a plaster model, only recently exhibited to the public as it is lying at the Cantiere Marmisti of the Veneranda Fabbrica, known until now only through archival photographic reproductions. The scene depicts the kneeling Virgin holding the body of the dead Christ half-recumbent with his head completely turned backward. Restored with the contribution of the Italian Stock Exchange, the sketch was exhibited to the public for the first time during a study day last Jan. 15 on the occasion of the exhibition L’arte novissima. Lucio Fontana for the Duomo of Milan 1936-1956 that has just concluded, and will return to the Duomo Museum at the end of the exhibition. Due to its accentuated expressionistic language, this first version of the predella was probably discarded by the commission. Fontana then made a second one, also in plaster, which found approval from the commission, and which became the predella for the plaster model of the altarpiece, in the collection of the Diocesan Museum of Milan since 2000.

The life-size sketch of the Virgin of the Assumption altarpiece was created by Fontana in 1954-1955, following a competition announced in November 1950 by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo to coincide with the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary by Pope Pius XII. The work depicts a Virgin of the Assumption of monumental dimensions, at the foot of which is placed a smaller predella depicting the Pieta. After the submission of small scale sketches, some of which are now dispersed, the Veneranda Fabbrica asked Fontana for a full-scale plaster model, which was later to be translated into Candoglia marble and intended for the altar of Sant’Agata in the cathedral. The work was never completed and the project remained unfinished. In 1972, however, a posthumous bronze casting was made and is now temporarily placed on the altar of Sant’Agata in Milan Cathedral.

The exhibition can be visited during the Museum’s opening hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (last entry half an hour before closing). Tickets: full price 8 euros, reduced price and groups 6 euros, schools and oratories 4 euros. For all info call 02 89420019, email info.biglietteria@museodiocesano.it, or visit the Milan Diocesan Museum website.

Pictured: Lucio Fontana, Deposition of Christ (1954; plaster sketch, second version; Milan, Museo Diocesano “Carlo Maria Martini”)

Milan, the two Pietàs that Lucio Fontana made for the Duomo are on display at the Museo Diocesano

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