It’s day 22 of the Culture Tourist Art Blogmas. And I’m sharing one of the most famous artworks located in Europe with you, Andrea Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ.
Art Blogmas 2021
With an entirely new way he approached the perspective here, Mantegna created one of the most famous Renaissance masterpieces. Created in the early 1480s, the artist probably made it for his private funerary chapel.
⤷ Read more: 15 best museums you have to visit this year
Andrea Mantegna: Lamentation over the Dead Christ
⤷ Where is it? Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (Italy)
Mantegna painted a dead Christ laying in a central part of the painting. Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Saint John are on the left crying in grief. Although this theme was quite common in Medieval and Renaissance paintings, the execution of this one is rather unusual.
The painting is oil on canvas which is also quite rare for the art of Renaissance Italy.
The perspective of Christ’s body shows a great focus on Realism. Almost as the painter wanted to show how good in it he was. The way three figures are shown on the left makes us feel as we’re also participating in the scene. And as we are mourning over the body of the dead Christ, too.
Andrea Mantegna focuses on Realism by showing many little details in this painting. The wounds on his arms and legs witness the suffering Christ went through before his death. Numerous wrinkles on Virgin Mary’s face tell about her deep sorrow and pain.
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