And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just…he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

Luke 23:50-55

This Entombment was painted in Southern Germany around 1600. In the way the artist has painted the dead Christ and those mourning him, he has imbued the scene with pious sorrow.

There are eight mourners present at the entombment. The artist has arranged them in a pyramid, with a haloed man at the top: probably the Apostle John, who was the only apostle recorded as present at Christ’s crucifixion. We also know (John 19:25) that “the three Marys” were also present at the crucifixion: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas and of course Christ’s mother. We see the Virgin Mary dressed in her characteristic blue and closest to her dead son; her head is bowed, and tears flow from her eyes.

The man behind Christ is Joseph of Arimathaea, discernible through his finer clothes (befitting a “counsellor” as he is described in Luke). He is visibly straining to hold Christ’s body as he and others lay Christ in the tomb. Two other mourners hold jars with oil to anoint the body.

The artist has shown his mastery of the human form with Christ’s body: we feel its lifeless weight as it is lain in the tomb. Christ’s wounded hand is draped over the side of the tomb, as if to indicate at what lies below: the Crown of thorns, which has fallen to the ground, the wounds it left still visible on Christ’s forehead. Christ’s feet are rendered with superb realism: crooked toes with dirty toenails and of course the bloody wounds where Christ’s feet were nailed to the cross.

The artist has balanced the sombreness of the topic with an array of bright colours: reds, greens and golds. These hint at the life that is to come. For, after all, the mourners’ grief will turn to wonder when they return in three days to find the tomb empty, and then to joy when they learn that Christ has risen.

Provenance: Private Collection Germany