 Pietro
Lorenzetti (Siena -Italy-, about 1280-1348)
Descent from the Cross, about 1320/1322,
fresco. Assisi, St. Francis Church, Basilica inferiore, 175.5
in. wide, 200 in. long.
Christ’s body dominates the composition.
He is the only naked character and contrasts with the large
and heavy robes the other seven characters are wearing. All of
them tend to Him, with their arms and legs bent.
The composition is barren, without
embellishments, according to the humble and strict franciscan spirituality. There is no landscape, the earth looks dry, and
the Cross is essential.
The Senese painter
included some
elements that confirm the greatness of this picture: the man
who is taking off the nails from Christ’s feet gives the
scene a realistic atmosphere, which is hard to find in other
paintings of that age; Mary brings her face close to Christ’s
and tenderly touches His hair; John and Nicodemus, who are
holding Christ’s body, do not show strain or desperation:
their eyes seem deeply in meditation, contemplating the
mystery they are witnessing and they cannot understand…
Just like Nicodemus, mankind meditates on the mystery of
the Lord of life’s death: they do not understand it, but
they trust His word, since He promised them something “beyond”
life.
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