Collection Publications: Reflections of the Passion (y1958-16)

After removing Christ's body from the cross (see Juan de Borgoña's Deposition [y1983-44]),Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, two of the women called Mary, the Virgin, and John the Evangelist anointed him, wrapped him in a linen cloth, and laid him to rest in a tomb while lamenting his death. Though full of displays of human emotion, Cornelis' Lamentation also refers to church ritual, representing Christ's body as though it were the Host on an altar: it is tilted and almost frontal, making it as visible as the consecrated wafer when it is elevated during the Mass. The white cloth resembles cloths placed below or around the sacrament in church services, draping the altar and covering the hands of the deacon before he touches the offerings. Renaissance viewers would have recognized the tomb at the bottom of the painting as a substitute for the altar itself.