PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Berlin, 1915; Von Litz Collection, Munich, 1954; Christie's, London, June 16, 1967, lot 139; Julius Weitzner, London, 1968; BJU, 1968.

Today Baglione is most famous for his authorship of two important books: a guidebook about Roman churches and a book of biographies of late 16th- and 17th-century artists. He also is remembered for his dealings with his contemporary rival, Caravaggio. In 1603 Baglione sued Caravaggio, Orazio Gentileschi, and Onorio Longhi for distributing slanderous satirical literature about him. In court, Caravaggio said Baglione was no friend of his and was not a good painter.

The artist first treated this subject in 1608 in a commissioned altarpiece for the church of the Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples and eight years later refined the composition into the present version. In spite of the prior bitterness between Caravaggio and Baglione, the artist here produces a painting inspired by one of Caravaggio's most renown works, The Deposition (Vatican Pinacoteca). Baglione, in fact, was the first artist to emulate Caravaggio's revolutionary style and described his rival's Deposition as Caravaggio's best work. In light of their apparent dislike for each other, it is ironic that Baglione's best works are his most Caravaggesque. This Body of Christ Prepared for Burial is surely one of his best mature works and reflects a more "classical" interpretation of Caravaggio's version.