The Deposition from the Cross

The scene unfolds on a gold background, and is multi-figural. Jesus is carefully carried down from the Cross by four men standing on ladders, that almost violently interrupt the horizontal and vertical axis of the icon. Under the Cross, women are comforting the Virgin, who is depicted fainted, supported by two of them. All the figures bare nimbuses with silver and gilded plate. The more striking characteristics of this icon of the Deposition are, apart from the multitude of the figures, the intense expressions of pain, achieved by the positioning of the bodies as well as the facial expressions, and the intentional disruption of the axes of the icon, with the placing of the ladders on the Cross and the covering of part of the frame by a silver gilded nimbus at the top of the composition. The vicid expression of sentiments, the intense movement that transpires the composition, the three-dimensional effect achieved by the presence of buildings at the background and the intense dramatic expressions of the depicted figures lead to the attribution of the icon to a painter of significant talent and exceptional artistic training.