Death is impressively realistic in this representation. Jesus has collapsed, His mouth is almost open, His eyes are almost completely closed, His skin complexion has lost the rosy colour of life. He is exposed to public veneration, to give testimony that everything has really been accomplished, that the prophecies have become true and that the sacrifice has been done.

The contrast sharpens if we enlarge the horizon and contemplate this face in the context of the composition. Jesus face is the main point of the picture. It is placed exactly in the centre of a crowded scene (five people on the right and five on the left) the tones are mostly bright (like His complexion, the sheet that wraps Him and the tomb stone) Jesus’ face is the fulcrum of the picture; the painter wants to lead our eyes to see real death: it is not fiction, it is not an impression, it is not an illusion. It is a terrible truth that is just before our eyes, and in the meanwhile some characters (there are about three of them) look at us and seem to want to start a mute dialog with us.

“I kiss your passion, with which I was released from my ugly passions… I kiss the wounds on your body, that healed my rebellion’s wounds … I kiss the precious Shroud that you wore to wrap me in the cloth of adopted son” (Giorgio di Nicomedia).