The Lamentation

Juan de Juni executed several versions of this composition, all in terracotta (baked clay), and almost certainly all cast from moulds. The twisted and Mannerist-style forms are typical of this sculptor's work. Although all his known sculpture was made in Castile in Spain, Juan de Juni was probably French in origin.

The present version should be assigned to the workshop of Juan de Juni, and can be tentatively dated to the 1540s , approximately contemporary with the Salamanca relief. It was probably a devotional object, intended to be hung in a chapel or church, or in a private house. The inscription on the frame reinforces its devotional purpose.