Lamentation
Artist: Gerard David (Dutch, c. 1460 - 1523)
Original Dimensions: 24 3/4" x 24 1/2"
Location: National Gallery of Art, London
About Artwork: (1515-23) "Christ’s body has just been brought down from the Cross and is being prepared for burial – the square door to his tomb is visible in the rock face on the right. His mother embraces him tenderly, while Mary Magdalene anoints his feet. Another woman washes his wounds with water from a brass basin while Saint John the Evangelist, in red, supports the body on its shroud. The men entering through a gate on the right are the two secret converts to Christianity: Nicodemus, who brought spices to embalm Christ’s body, and Joseph of Arimathea, who gained permission to bury him after the Crucifixion. It is likely that this painting formed part of a series of the life of Christ painted by David as part of polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece). His Adoration of the Kings, also in the National Gallery’s collection, probably comes from the same altarpiece." - (National Gallery of Art, London)

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