The Deposition from the Cross is an altarpiece by the Italian Renaissance painter Jacopo Pontormo, completed in 1528. It is broadly considered to be the artist's surviving masterpiece. Painted in oil on wood, The Deposition is located above the altar of the Capponi Chapel at the church of Santa Felicita, in Florence.
This painting suggests a whorling dance of the grief-stricken. They inhabit a flattened space, comprising a sculptural congregation...
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The Deposition from the Cross is an altarpiece by the Italian Renaissance painter Jacopo Pontormo, completed in 1528. It is broadly considered to be the artist's surviving masterpiece. Painted in oil on wood, The Deposition is located above the altar of the Capponi Chapel at the church of Santa Felicita, in Florence.
This painting suggests a whorling dance of the grief-stricken. They inhabit a flattened space, comprising a sculptural congregation of brightly demarcated colors. The vortex of the composition droops down towards the limp body of Jesus off center in the left. Those lowering Christ appear to demand our help in sustaining both the weight of his body (and the burden of sin Christ took on) and of their grief. No Cross is visible; the natural world itself also appears to have nearly vanished: a lonely cloud and a shadowed patch of ground with a crumpled sheet provide sky and stratum for the mourners. If the sky and earth have lost color, the mourners have not; bright swathes...
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