Embodiments of pain

Nicolas Poussin, Lamentation of Christ, around 1628

By Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

Alte Pinakothek, Bavarian State Painting Collections

Lamentation of Christ (around 1628) by Nicolas PoussinOriginal Source: Object in the Online-Collection of the Pinakotheken

Before Christ's body is placed in a tomb in the rock...

...those closest to him mourn over him.

Nicolas Poussin shows this old theme - one that is not actually described explicitly in the Canonical Gospels - in a particularly moving fashion.

John the Apostle in distraught prayer...

...and Mary fainting are both embodiments of pain depicted in different ways.

The two child-like putti are weeping.

Poussin stages his composition in a cemetery of antiquity...

...demonstrating his effort to achieve historical accuracy.

Credits: Story

© Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

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