In 1524, having finished the works for the great decorative undertaking of San Giovanni Evangelista, Correggio was commissioned by the Benedictine monk Placido del Bono to paint two canvases for the family chapel located in the same church: the Lamentation over Dead Christ and the Martyrdom of Saints Placido , Flavia, Eutichio, Vittorino. In the Lamentation Correggio adopts a completely new iconographic solution: Christ, just taken down from the cross, lies on the ground with his head abandoned on his mother's lap, his body bruised, his feet and hands still contracted by the tension of the nails. The Virgin, unable to bear this excruciating physical contact, faints, supported by John, while Magdalene, at the feet of Jesus, regardless of what happens around her, is overcome by a feeling of painful sadness. The tragedy is definitively accomplished: the sacrifice of Christ is shown to us in the foreground in all its atrocious and human suffering, arousing in the viewer a strong emotional reaction and a feeling of sharing, painful compassion. The asymmetrical compositional scheme and the horizontal cut of the painting (a completely new solution in the Parma area) give the scene an intense pathetism, which anticipates the language of Baroque painting. Like a cinematic zoom, the artist focuses all attention on the central group, cutting out the details that are not functional to the dramatic climax of the story. The painting as its counterpart remained in its original location until 1796 when, following the Napoleonic suppressions, it was moved to Paris. Returning to Parma in 1816 it was placed in its present location in the rooms of the Rocchetta of the Gallery.