Descent from the Cross

Rosso Fiorentino (1521, Volterra Cathedral)

The Descent from the Cross (Greek: Αποκαθελωσις, Apokathelosis), or Deposition, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospel account of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19:38-42). In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross.

Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary (as in the work below by Van der Weyden), and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention a undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys, (Mary Salome being mentioned in Mark (Mark 15:40), and also that the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene saw the burial (Mark 15:47). These and further women and unnamed male helpers are often shown. ^[1]

Development of the image

Rogier van der Weyden. Deposition. (c.1435) Oil on oak panel, 220 x 262 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid

The scene was usually included in medieval cycles of the Life or the Passion of Christ, between the Crucifixion and the Entombment of Christ. Even in early depictions the details and posing of the composition, and especially the position of Christ's body, are varied. The Pieta or Lamentation, showing the body of Christ held by Mary, may intervene between these two, and is common as an individual image, especially in sculpture. The Bearing of the body, showing Christ's body being carried to his tomb, and the Annointing of Christ's body, showing the body laid flat on the top of the tomb or a similarly-shaped "annointing-stone" are other scenes that may be shown. This last is especially important in Orthodox art, where it is shown on the Epitaphios.

With the Renaissance the subject became popular for altarpieces, partly because of the challenges of the composition, and the suitability of its vertical shape. The Mannerist version of Rosso Fiorentino is usually regarded as his most important work, and Pontormo's altarpiece is perhaps his most ambitious work. The subject was painted several times by both Rubens and Rembrandt, who repeated one of his paintings (now Munich) in a large print, his only one to be mainly engraved, as well as making two other etchings of the subject.

Examples

Deposition by Rubens, Lille.

• Cod. Grec. 510 (9th century Byzantine, Paris, National library)
• Codex Egberti (ca. 980, Trier city library).
• St Albans Psalter - English Romanesque miniature 1130-45 [1]
• Externsteine relief (12th century)
• Toros Roslin (13th century) [2]
• Byzantine Museum of Kastoria (ca. 1400) [3]
• Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1438, Museo del Prado, Madrid)
• Nicolas Mostaert (1579) [4]
• Rubens (1611-14, Antwerp cathedral) The Descent from the Cross
• Rembrandt (1634, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg) [5] [6] [7]
• Athens, Benaki Museum No. 3001 (ca. 1700) [8]
• John Baptist Jackson, (1738) [9]
• Gustave Doré [10]
• Max Beckman (1917) [11]
• Enrique Miguel de la Vega [12]
• The Deposition from the Cross (1528) by Jacopo Pontormo at the Capponi Chapel in the church of Santa Felicita, in Florence.
• Fra Angelico, Deposition of Christ, executed between 1432 and 1434, now in the National Museum of San Marco, Florence.
• Caravaggio, The Entombment of Christ (1602–1603), now at the Vatican Pinacoteca.
• Eastern Orthodox Icons of the Descent from the Cross.[13]
• The Epitaphios used during Holy Week[14]
• The Antimension [15]

Gallery

Benedetto Antelami. Deposition from the Cross (1178). Carved stone relief. Parma Cathedral	Externsteine Relief (12th century). Natural sandstone. Teutoburger Wald, Germany	Limbourg brothers. The Deposition, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 156v (c. 1410). Illuminated manuscript. Musée Condé, Chantilly	Fra Angelico. Deposition of Christ, Fra Angelico (1437-1440). Tempera on wood, 176 x 185 cm. Museo di San Marco, Florence
Anonymous. Deposition of the Cross Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium	The prayer Obsecro te (1470s), from the Book of Hours of Angers Bodleian Library, University of Oxford	Descent from the Cross (1495), from Ss. Johns' church in Toruń. Diocesan Museum, Pelplin	Pietro Perugino. Deposition (1495) Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence
Guglielmo Della Porta. Deposition (16th century). Marble. Museo d'arte antica, Castello Sforzesco, Milan	Rosso Fiorentino. Deposition (1521). Oil on wood, 375 × 196 cm. Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra	Hans Holbein the Younger. The Passion Altarpiece (c. 1523) Tempera on wood, 136 x 31 cm Kunstmuseum, Basel	Jacopo Pontormo. The Deposition from the Cross (1528). Oil on wood, 313 × 192 cm. Santa Felicità, Florence
Agnolo di Cosimo ("Bronzino") Deposition of Christ (1540-1545) Oil on wood, 268 × 173 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon	Caravaggio. The Entombment of Christ (1604). Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome	Peter Paul Rubens. The Descent from the Cross (c. 1612). Oil on wood 420.5 × 320 cm Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp	Rembrandt van Rijn. Deposition (1633). Oil on wood. 89.4 × 65.2 cm. Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The Deposition from the Cross (18th century). Clay statues. Sacro Monte di Belmonte (near Turin)	Jean-Baptiste Regnault. Deposition (c. 1789). Oil on panel Stanford Museum, Stanford University, California	Deposition. Carved and painted stone. Church of Santa Teresinha, Porto Alegre, Brazil	frères Avondo Deposition. Fresco. Pont de Beauvoisin, Savoie, France
Cluny Abbey Deposition with Twelve Apostles (bishop's mitre). Ink on cloth Musée national du Moyen, Paris	Antonio Ciseri. The Deposition of Christ (c. 1883)	Antimension (1890). Printed on silk. Oradea-Mare, Transylvania, Romania	Viktor Vasnetsov Entombment, (1896). Mural. St Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kiev
Deposition: His body taken down from the cross (modern). Carved stone. Muenster, Germany	Ludvig Karsten. Nedtagelsen (Deposition) (1925). Oil on canvas.	Jacek Andrzej Rossakiewicz. The Deposition (St John Passion - 7) (1990). Oil on canvas, 245 x 140 cm

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Descent from the Cross

See also

• Pietá
• Epitaphios
• Antimension

References

External links

• Eastern depictions from The Grove Dictionary of Art

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