The Lamentation of Christ

The Lamentation by Cornelis Engebrechtz. Van Leyden simultaneously depicts various episodes from Christ’s Passion. In the background we see the deposition from the Cross on Mount Golgotha and the soldiers and crowd returning to Jerusalem; in the foreground Christ’s lifeless body lies at his mother’s feet. John supports Christ’s head while Mary Magdalens and two holy women kneel next to…

The Lamentation by Cornelis Engebrechtz. Van Leyden simultaneously depicts various episodes from Christ’s Passion. In the background we see the deposition from the Cross on Mount Golgotha and the soldiers and crowd returning to Jerusalem; in the foreground Christ’s lifeless body lies at his mother’s feet. John supports Christ’s head while Mary Magdalens and two holy women kneel next to the corpse. Next to Christ lie the symbols of the Passion, the crown of thorns and the nails with which he was crucified. Van Engebrechtsz. Van Leyden is mainly known for his narrative scenes from the Bible. This painting was probably the central panel of a triptych and comes from the Dominican monastery in Ghent. The rich garments, the decorative folds of the drapery and the representation of space in successive planes is typical of late gothic painting in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.