The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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| Entombment of Christ |
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| Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , 1602–1604 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 300 x 203 cm |
| Vatican Museums |
The Entombment of Christ by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is a painting created between 1602 and 1604.
description
The right background is dominated by Maria Kleophae , who in despair and as an expression of mourning stretches her arms to the sky. To her left stands Maria Magdalena with her head bowed . The Virgin Mary is depicted in a nun's robe. In the foreground, the bent Nicodemus , supported by John (left in the background), holds the body of Christ. The hand of John, who is taking Christ under his arms, lies in his wound.
The image of the Entombment of Christ belongs to the genre of devotional images . It shows the figures larger than life and thus develops a monumental effect.
execution
The eye of the beholder slides from the raised hands in the upper right corner diagonally over the bowed heads of the mourners and the horizontally placed body of Jesus to the shroud at the lower left. The cloth hangs over the grave and seems to reach into the viewer's room. The dark and empty background draws all attention to the figures. The arrangement of the people is strictly symmetrical in itself and for a viewer standing in front of the inclined tombstone.
symbolism
The plant in the foreground symbolizes the hope for a new life.
The hanging right arm (in Christ) is an element that can be found in reliefs of Roman-Greek antiquity in the representations of the fallen heroes.
Historical background and art-historical aftermath
According to the resolutions of the Council of Trent , Christian art should be generally understandable and move the viewer emotionally. This requirement seems to have significantly influenced Caravaggio's style, particularly in this painting.
The painting was commissioned by Girolamo Vittrice as an altarpiece for his family chapel in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome. In 1797 it was brought to Paris under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino . It has been in the Vatican Pinacoteca since it was returned in 1817 . A copy made by the painter Michele Koek hangs in the church today .
reception
Just three years after Caravaggio's death, the picture was used by Peter Paul Rubens as a template for his entombment. Rubens had stayed in Rome a few years earlier and studied the painting there. Rubens downsized the scenery and omitted the dramatic depiction of Maria Cleophae. The painter Guy François also based his entombment on the original by Caravaggio, because Maria Kleophae is shown here with outstretched arms. The painting The Death of Marat from 1793 by Jacques-Louis David is also associated by art historians with the depiction of the body of Christ by Caravaggio.
Roman Pietà by Michelangelo which influenced Caravaggio's depiction, 1498 to 1499
Entombment of PP Rubens around 1612
Entombment of Guy François (1578–1650) undated
The Death of Marat (1793)
literature
- Patrick de Rynck: How to Read a Painting. Decoding, Understanding and Enjoying the Old Masters . Thames & Hudson, London 2005, ISBN 0-500-51200-0 .