As Italy goes into lockdown for the second time, the doors of the museums close again. And so we enter another month (?) of art starvation. Sigh. Luckily, last week I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Palazzo Fava exhibition, which traces the history of the Griffoni Polyptych, a 15th century masterpiece with a rather troubled history. This magnificent polyptych is a collaboration between two greats of the Ferrarese school, Francesco del Cossa and his talented pupil Ercole

"This Christ will never be forgotten. Was it made from earth? Was it rotting flesh? I didn’t know what the medium was […] The three Marys enraged by suffering, demented by the suffering […]. Can you imagine the petrified scream?’ - Gabriele d’Annunzio (1924) Remember the last time you saw an enraged, demented Mary? No, me neither. And that's because, with the Compianto sul Cristo Morto, Nicolò dell'Arca did the unthinkable. He took a sacred subject and then proceeded to treat