The entombment

To understand

 WHAT CAN BE SEEN I THIS PICTURE 

The corpse of Jesus is laid down by women and men into his tomb.

The tomb is represented as an open sarcophagus, contrary to the texts which mentions a vault dug out in the rock. The body, wrapped in a white shroud, is put into the sarcophagus or placed on a sort of slab that is the lid.

6 persons are around dead Christ and take part to the entombment.

The Virgin Mary is in tears; the apostle John supports her

On the left, a woman holds the crown of thorns while, on the right, Mary Magdalene carries a vase.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus lay down the corpse in its shroud; Joseph holds it on the side of his head and Nicodemus on the side of his feet.

This position can be explained by their relative social importance; the former is a prominent member of the Sanhedrin Council who has donated the tomb, the latter is but a petty member who has brought some unguents.

... AND IN OTHER IMAGES

The group of women is often better structured:

Mary, the mother of Jesus, presides over the scene; she is placed in the centre or else close to Jesus’ head; her suffering has grown over the centuries and sometimes becomes theatrical.

            Two other women mentioned in the Gospels bring some perfumes for the embalment; they are Salome, Zebedee’s wife and the mother of the apostles James the Major and John, and Mary, the mother of James the Minor. They are the women that the legend had made into the Virgin Mary’s half-sisters.

Mary Magdalene cries while holding a vase of perfume; she is in the centre if the Virgin is placed close to Jesus’ head, or she is at his feet if the Virgin is in the centre of the scene.

The entombment is often composed with several characters carved life-size; which creates a sort of stage performance.

Not be confused with

The biblical narrative

The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 27

When the even had come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the sepulchre. (Matthew 27:57-61)

The Gospel according to John adds in chapter 19

And there came also Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. (John 19:39)

Comment 

The scene of the burial of Jesus’ body is particularly important for two reasons. It is the death of a real man and not a divine spirit taking a human appearance, and the representation of the entombment precedes the scene of the empty tomb, the sign of the Resurrection.

See similar pictures

Further developments

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