Oil on canvas, 95.5cm by 73cm.
This painting was purchased by John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700), during one of his Grand Tours.
It appears in the 1688 Burghley Inventory, though without attribution: ‘My Ladyes Closett … ‘a Christ taken from ye Cross, no frame, by…’
The 1763 Inventory entry is more detailed: ‘The picture room…our saviour, Martha and mary by Carlo Maratti.’
Chiari was born in Rome, where he became one of the main assistants in the studio of Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), a painter much patronised by the 5th Earl.
Another version of the painting by Chiari, now in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, may be one which he is known to have painted for Cardinal Ottoboni.
