Antonello da Messina, The Lamentation

Circa 1450
Oil on oak, approximately 9 x 15 inches (22.9 x 38.1 cm.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is the usual group seen in images of the removal of Jesus' body, all in contemporary dress. St. John stands behind Mary. To his proper right, an ointment jar sits on the ground, the attribute of St. Mary Magdalene, the woman on the left. In the foreground Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea have placed the body on the burial cloth (John 19:38-40). In the lower right foreground are the tongs and claw hammer they used to remove the nails that had held the body to the cross.

Read more about images of the Lamentation.

Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.