The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio: Weight and Grief

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An altarpiece for the Chiesa Nuova

Caravaggio painted The Entombment of Christ in 1603 to 1604 for a chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella, the Chiesa Nuova in Rome. It was one of his most admired works, and later artists, including Rubens, copied it.

Napoleon’s troops took it to Paris in 1797. It was returned in 1817 and placed in the Vatican Pinacoteca, where it remains.

The weight of a dead body

Christ’s body with head fallen back, supported under the shoulders — The weight of a dead body.

Christ’s body hangs heavily, head fallen back, one arm dropping towards the ground. Caravaggio makes us feel its weight. John, at the left, supports the shoulders, and his hand presses into the wound in Christ’s side.

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Nicodemus looks at us

Bearded Nicodemus turning his face towards the viewer — Nicodemus looks out at us.

Nicodemus, bent under the legs, turns his face towards the viewer. His bare, muscular calves and his weathered face are painted with Caravaggio’s typical realism. He seems to be lowering the body towards us, as if we were standing in the grave.

Three women, three kinds of grief

Old woman in a white veil looking down beside a weeping woman — The Virgin and Mary Magdalene.

Behind, the Virgin Mary, now an old woman in a nun-like veil, stretches out her arms quietly over the group. Mary Magdalene bows her head and wipes her eyes.

Young woman throwing her arms up in despair — Mary of Clopas raises her arms.

At the right, Mary of Clopas throws her arms up in despair, her face lifted. The three women show grief moving from quiet sorrow to open lament.

A stone slab that projects towards us

Corner of a stone slab jutting forward with a white cloth — The slab juts towards the altar.

The group stands on a heavy stone slab whose corner juts forward, out of the picture. On an altar, it would have seemed to project into the chapel, close to the priest raising the host during Mass. The slab links Christ’s body in the painting with the sacrament on the altar below.

Questions about The Entombment of Christ

Where is the original?

Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City.

Who are the figures?

Saint John and Nicodemus carrying Christ, with the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas behind.

When was it painted?

In 1603 to 1604, for the Chiesa Nuova in Rome.

How large is it?

About 300 × 203 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

Public-domain reproduction of The Entombment of Christ (1603 to 1604), via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.