“The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo

“The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo is an altarpiece, intended for Narbonne Cathedral, for which Michelangelo supplied drawings for some figures. Several preparatory drawings for this altarpiece by both artists plus letters between them have survived down to our time Lazarus’s resurrection from the dead was the most often depicted miracles in Medieval and Renaissance art, as both the most remarkable and the easiest to recognize visually in a composition.

This painting captures the moment just after:

“Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go”. – John 11:45

In the upper left, a group of Jews and Pharisees are depicted discussing the event, which completes the story in the gospels. The standing female in orange is Martha of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Mary. In the gospel, before the tomb is opened, she protests that the body will smell, and her gestures show her turning away from an expected smell. The Twelve Apostles are crowded to the left and behind of Christ. By this stage of the High Renaissance, not even Christ is given a halo.

This depiction is a grand composition of gesturing figures and bright colors. The effects of time have led to a general darkening of the painting, and changes in some of the color shades. This painting was commissioned by the Archbishop of Narbonne and later Pope Clement VII (r. 1523–24), in a contest between Sebastiano and Raphael. Raphael’s painting, called Transfiguration (now in the Vatican Pinacoteca), won the competition. Michelangelo was supporting Sebastiano in a rivalry with Raphael.

The painting is signed, “Sebastian the Venetian made this” in Latin on the stone platform below Christ. Born Sebastiano Luciani, after coming to Rome, he becomes “Sebastiano Veneziano” until in 1531, he became the Keeper of the Seal to the Papacy, and so got the nickname del Piombo after that, meaning “of the lead,” for his new job title. In Rome, he became one of the few painters to get on well with Michelangelo, who tried to promote his career by encouraging him to compete for commissions against Raphael. After the death of Raphael in 1520 he became Rome’s leading painter.

“The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo

Title: The Raising of Lazarus
Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo
Year: 1519
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 381 × 289.6 cm (12.5 × 9.5 ft)
Museum: The National Gallery, London

Sebastiano del Piombo

Name: Sebastiano del Piombo
Birth Name: Sebastiano Luciani
Born: c. 1485 – Venice, Italy
Died: 1547 (aged 62) – Rome, Papal States
Nationality: Italian
Movement: High Renaissance
Notable works:
- The Raising of Lazarus

A Tour of the National Gallery, London

13th Century Paintings

“The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes” by Margarito d’Arezzo – 1264
“The Virgin and Child” by Master of the Clarisse – 1268
“Crucifix” by Master of Saint Francis – 1270

14th Century Paintings

Wilton Diptych – 1395
“The Annunciation” by Duccio – 1311
“The Healing of the Man Born Blind” by Duccio – 1311

15th Century Paintings

“Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan van Eyck – 1434
“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello– 1440
“Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli – 1483
“Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini– 1501

16th Century Paintings

“Mystic Nativity” by Sandro Botticelli – 1550
“Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
“The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
“The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
“Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
“The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
“Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
“Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
“The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
“Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
“The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
“The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
“The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575

17th Century Paintings

“Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
“Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
“Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” by Diego Velázquez – 1618
“The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
“Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
“Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
“Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
“The Courtyard of a House in Delft” by Pieter de Hooch – 1658
“Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt – 1669
“A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670

18th Century Paintings

“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
“A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
“Mr. and Mrs. Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
“Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
“An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
“Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782

19th Century Paintings

“Portrait of Doña Isabel de Porcel” by Francisco Goya – 1805
“The Emperor Napoleon I” by Horace Vernet – 1815
“Dido Building Carthage” by J. M. W. Turner – 1815
“Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” by John Constable – 1831
“The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” by Paul Delaroche – 1833
“The Fighting Temeraire” by Joseph Mallord William Turner – 1839
“Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway” by J. M. W. Turner – 1844
“Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence” by Frederic Leighton – 1855
“Madame Moitessier” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres– 1856
“The Gare St-Lazare” by Claude Monet – 1877
“Bathers at Asnières” by Georges Seurat – 1884
“Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh – 1888
“Tiger in a Tropical Storm” by Henri Rousseau – 1891
“After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself” by Edgar Degas – 1895
“Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro – 1898