"The Lamentation of the Dead Christ" is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna.
It is believed that he was one of the first artists to depict Christ already taken down from the cross.
It is assumed that the painting was created in 1490. Until the author's death, the painting remained in his studio and was found only after his death.
The work is currently in the Pinacoteca Brera in Milan. It was there that I first saw the painting and stood next to it for a long time, examining it in detail.
Even if you are not an artist, you will immediately understand that there is something strange about the painting...
The subject of the painting "The Lamentation of Christ" is quite traditional for European religious painting. The body of Christ lies on a marble slab (the so-called Stone of Anointing).
On the left are the profiles of the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John.
In the upper left corner, you can make out a fragment of another face. Most likely, this is Mary Magdalene - this is also indicated by the jar of myrrh standing on Christ's head.
The body is partially covered with a shroud, in which the body will be buried in the Holy Sepulchre.
The painting is devoid of pathos and exaggerated emotions. Their gloomy and stern faces are "cut off" from the edge of the canvas: we see only clenched fingers and mouths closed in grief.
The unusual in the picture
The uniqueness of the canvas lies in how exactly the artist depicts the body of Christ. His feet literally touch the bottom edge of the painting, and his head almost reaches the top, which is why there is a feeling of narrowness and limited space.
The painting became famous for its unusual compositional and spatial solution.
The body of Christ, lying on the stone, is depicted at a non-standard angle: not parallel, but perpendicular to the plane of the picture.
The depiction of the dead body of Christ is unusual for the Renaissance. The body is depicted from the side of the Savior's feet. This solution allows the viewer to see both the face of the dead Christ and the wounds on his feet.
One nuance should be noted: the distortions of the perspective are neutralized using reverse perspective, the size of the head is not reduced relative to the feet (the feet are intentionally reduced, and the head is enlarged).
Christ's head is too large, as it is furthest from the viewer. His torso and arms are well detailed. But... his legs seem too short compared to his torso, and his feet seem too small for his entire body.
The reverse perspective was not chosen by the master by chance: if Mantegna had decided to convey the real ratio between the legs and the head, then the main place on the canvas would have been occupied by the legs, which would have interfered with the perception of Christ's head.
This proves that experimenting with perspective is not an end in itself, but a means to solving a complex artistic problem.
Imagine this figure standing up. You'll see a rather large head on a small, short body with legs that are only about a quarter of its height, all resting on feet that are too small to support the body.
The dead Christ is depicted naturalistically: the body and wounds appear material, three-dimensional, as if we were looking at a sculpture. The almost monochrome coloring not only conveys the pallor of the lifeless body, but also seems to make Christ an organic part of the cold stone on which he rests.
In this painting, he attempts to give Christ human nature and express his understanding of the idea that salvation is available to everyone.
In his interpretation of the image of Christ, Mantegna does not show the superhuman and transcendent...
When looking at the painting, one immediately notices the nail wounds in Christ's hands and feet. These wounds are an important symbol for the Christian tradition, reminding the viewer of Christ's sacrificial death and his pain for the salvation of all humanity.
It must be said that Andrea Mantegna deserves recognition in the history of art: the painting is a product of its time and we are grateful to fate that it has survived to this day.
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