Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Foreshortened Christ)
Lamentation over the Dead Christ — Mantegna, c.1480-1490
Andrea Mantegna, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Mantegna's Lamentation over the Dead Christ — also called the Dead Christ or the Foreshortened Christ — is one of the most technically audacious paintings in the history of art. It shows Christ laid on a stone slab with his head closest to the viewer, depicted from directly below and in front, his feet in the foreground with pierced wounds facing the viewer, his body foreshortened into a shorter mass, his head at the far end of the composition supported by the grieving Virgin and St John.
The foreshortening is extreme and calculated: the body's perspective compression should, in principle, make the head appear tiny relative to the feet — but Mantegna adjusted the proportions slightly (making the head and feet more nearly equal) to preserve compositional balance. The result is a painting of devastating intimacy and theological confrontation: the viewer is placed at the feet of the dead Christ, looking along his body toward the grief above.
Andrea Mantegna (c.1431-1506) was the court painter of the Gonzaga of Mantua for most of his career and the most technically accomplished Italian painter of the 15th century outside Florence. He was also the brother-in-law of Giovanni Bellini — the two were the dominant painters of their generation in northern Italy.
The Lamentation was found in his studio at his death and was apparently made for his private devotion rather than for a patron — which may explain its extreme and uncompromising quality. The foreshortening is an exercise in geometric perspective applied to the most sacred of subjects: it demonstrates that divine bodies obey the same spatial rules as all bodies, making the Incarnation palpable.
The detail of the wound in Christ's right foot, seen from below and directly in front — the pierced flesh, the edge of the nail hole, the pale skin — is among the most confrontational details in Renaissance painting. The face at the far end of the composition — pale, the mouth slightly open, the eyes closed — is equally precise.
The mourners (the Virgin, St John, and Mary Magdalene) at upper left are depicted in three-quarter view, their grief individualized and specific. The stone surface on which Christ lies has the quality of a mortuary slab; the cloth beneath him and the pillow supporting his head are observed with documentary specificity. The painting is simultaneously the most intellectual (geometric) and most emotionally raw work in the Brera.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Lamentation over the Dead Christ — Mantegna, c.1480-1490. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The pierced feet — confrontational intimacy. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Christ's face — pale, open-mouthed in death. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The mourners — grief individualized. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera 28, Milan. Room VI. The Brera is one of the great Italian art museums; the Mantegna Lamentation is its most celebrated single work.