The ''Deposition from the Cross'' is a painting of the

Deposition of Christ The Descent from the Cross ( el, Ἀποκαθήλωσις, ''Apokathelosis''), or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after hi ...

by the Italian Renaissance master Fra Angelico, executed between 1432 and 1434. It is now housed in the National Museum of San Marco, Florence. Giorgio Vasari defined it to have been “painted by a saint or an angel”. Angelico intervened to complete this altarpiece when it had been already begun by

Lorenzo Monaco Lorenzo Monaco (1370 – 1425) was an Italian painter of the late Gothic to early Renaissance age. He was born Piero di Giovanni in Siena, Italy. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he was apprenticed in Florence. He was inf ...

for the Strozzi Chapel in the Florentine church of Santa Trinita. It portrays Christ supported by several people, with

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

kissing his feet, as a symbol of human repentance. A figure on the right, with a red hat, is showing the cross' nails and the horns crown, symbols of passion and sacrifice. Mary, wearing a dark dress, is shown in the traditional gesture of keeping hands joined.

External links

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San Marco Museum
{{Fra Angelico 1430s paintings Paintings by Fra Angelico Angelico Paintings of the Virgin Mary Paintings depicting Mary Magdalene Angels in art Paintings in the collection of the Museo Nazionale di San Marco Altarpieces