Ferdinando Bologna e la «cona (…) di mano del Mantegna» un tempo in San Domenico Maggiore

In 1956 Ferdinando Bologna, in a short article that ap peared in «Paragone», made known a couple of copies of a lost painting by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the Burial of Christ, originally in the Neapolitan church of San Domenico Maggiore and known until then only through the brief description by Pietro Summonte in the famous letter to Marcantonio Michiel of 1524. The recent discovery of Mantegna’s painting at the Prelature of Pompeii offers the opportunity to bring Bologna’s writing back to the attention of scholars. Furthermore, Bologna, al though only knowing the aforementioned copies, had al ready understood that the painting in question belonged to the last phase of the Paduan master’s activity. Despite the highly problematic state of conservation of the rediscovered canvas, it is possible to confirm the interpre tation offered by the scholar. To this, however, it can be added that for historical reasons the work can reasonably be considered an Aragonese commission, perhaps by Fed erico d’Aragona – approximately between 1500 and 1501, and in any case no later than 1504 – in close relations with his niece Isabella d’Este and therefore with the Mantuan context. It is highly plausible, in fact, that the painting was originally placed on one of the altars attested in the area of the tribune, where, starting from 1494, the Aragonese tombs were placed, transferred to the sacristy of San Domenico Maggiore after the devastating fire of 1506.