The Entombment (Michelangelo)
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| Artist | Michelangelo |
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| Year | circa 1500-1501 |
| Type | Tempera on panel |
| Dimensions | 162 cm × 150 cm (64 in × 59 in) |
| Location | London, National Gallery |
The Entombment is an unfinished painting of the placing of the body of Jesus in the garden tomb, attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti and dated to around 1500 or 1501. It is in the National Gallery in London, which purchased the work in 1868 from Robert Macpherson, a Scottish photographer resident in Rome who had discovered the painting there.
The chronological position of this work has been the source of some dispute, although it is generally considered an early work. Some authorities believe that it may have been executed by one of Michelangelo's pupils from a drawing by the master or was a direct imitation of his work[1].
According to documents discovered in 1981,[1], Michelangelo had been commissioned to paint a panel for the church of Sant'Agostino in Rome, but in the end gave back the sum received. It is probable that this work was the "Entombment", which remained unfinished upon Michelangelo's return to Florence.
The centre of the panel portrays Christ carried to the sepulchre. The bearded elderly man behind him is Joseph of Arimathea, who gave up his tomb for use as Christ's sepulchre. The figure on the left is probably Saint John, wearing a long orange-red gown, with Mary Magdalene kneeling at his feet.
The identity of the two figures on the right is uncertain (Nicodemus, the inner one, and Mary Salome have been proposed). Not present is the figure of the Virgin Mary.
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[edit] Interesting facts
It is assumed that the work was not finished because Michelangelo waited for the special blue colour, lapis lazuli, to be delivered from a supplier (the bands around Christ's body and Virgin Mary's robe were supposed to be blue). As anecdote goes, Michelangelo received a letter from his father saying that he should abandon whatever he was doing because a great piece of marble had arrived for him. So did he, and turned that marble into David.
[edit] Notes
- ^ M. Hirst, 1981. Michelangelo in Rome: an altar-piece and the'Bacchus', The Burlington Magazine, October 1981:581ff.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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