''Lamentation of Christ'' is an

oil-on-panel A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

painting of the common subject of the Lamentation of Christ attributed to German Renaissance artist

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

, executed around 1498 and now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nuremberg, Germany. The work was executed for the family chapel of Karl Holzschuher in the church of Sankt Johannis in Nuremberg. Dürer's

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

can be seen in the corner of Jesus' white shroud, but it is commonly considered to be apocryphal.

Description

The center of the painting is occupied by Jesus' dead body, supported by John the Apostle and lamented by Mary, Nicodemus and a pious Woman;

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 ...

and Joseph of Arimathea stand behind, holding balms to prepare the corpse for burial. Below is the crown of thorns and, in tiny proportions, the depictions of the donors from the Holzschuher and Grüber families, accompanied by their coat of arms. The landscape in the background shows the

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

, where the two thieves are still hanging from their crosses, and, at the center, a town reproduction with a river. On the right is hilly rocky cliff with the sepulchre.

Sources

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamentation of Christ (Durer, Nuremberg) Paintings by Albrecht Dürer 1490s paintings Collections of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Paintings about death Paintings of the Virgin Mary Paintings depicting Mary Magdalene Dürer, Nuremberg

Description

See also

Sources