Lorenzo Lotto
Around 1550–55
Oil paint on canvas
36.4 x 54.7 cm
This is an unusual depiction of a familiar biblical subject.Two men carry the dead Christ towards his tomb on the right while, on the left, his bereaved mother, Mary, is supported by a group of women as she faints. The men’s turbans contrast with the women’s contemporary Italian dress.
Much of Lorenzo Lotto’s later work is imbued with intense spirituality. He spent the last years of his life attached to the Holy House of Loreto, leading a monastic life.