The Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) — c. 1480 · Tempera on canvas · Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

“Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” — John 19:40 (KJV)

About

Mantegna's Lamentation (about 1480, Brera) looks down the slab at Christ's body from beyond His feet: radically foreshortened, head sunk toward us, wounds front and centre, the mourners squeezed at the stone's edge. The perspective makes the viewer stand in the tomb.

The Meaning

Perspective is the sermon: Mantegna makes you view Christ from the foot of the slab, as the women and Joseph saw Him. The wounds on the soles of the feet show because from where faith stands, every part of His suffering is visible.

For Us Today

Do not hurry past Christ's grave to get to Easter. Sin's bill was paid in a real death; gratitude grows at the tomb side. Joseph and Nicodemus spent money and courage on a body they loved (John 19:39–40) — love Him in His humiliation too.

Image: Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons — the file’s page. Tap the picture to open the full-size original there.