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''The Descent from the Cross'' (or ''Deposition of Christ'', or ''Descent of Christ from the Cross'') is a panel painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden created c. 1435, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The crucified Christ is lowered from the cross, his lifeless body held by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The c. 1435 date is estimated based on the work's style, and because the artist acquired wealth and renown around this time, most likely from the prestige this work allowed him.〔Clarke, 52〕 It was painted early in his career, shortly after he completed his apprenticeship with Robert Campin and shows the older painter's influence, most notable in the hard sculpted surfaces, realistic facial features and vivid primary colours, mostly reds, whites and blues.〔Clarke, 47〕 The work was a self-conscious attempt by van der Weyden to create a masterpiece that would establish an international reputation. Van der Weyden positioned Christ's body in the T-shape of a crossbow to reflect the commission from the Leuven guild of archers (Schutterij) for their chapel (フランス語:Notre-Dame-hors-les-Murs). Art historians have commented that this work was arguably the most influential Netherlandish painting of Christ's crucifixion, and that it was copied and adapted on a large scale in the two centuries after its completion. The emotional impact of the weeping mourners grieving over Christ's body, and the subtle depiction of space in van der Weyden's work have generated extensive critical comments, one of the most famous being, that of Erwin Panofsky: "It may be said that the painted tear, a shining pearl born of the strongest emotion, epitomizes that which Italian most admired in Early Flemish painting: pictorial brilliance and sentiment".〔Panofsky 1953, p. 258〕 ==Description== In their accounts of the descent of Christ's body from the Cross, the evangelists relate the story only in connection with the Entombment of Christ. According to the canonical gospels, Joseph of Arimathea took Christ's body and prepared it for burial. John (19:38–42) adds one assistant, Nicodemus. None of these accounts mention Mary. During the Middle Ages, the narrative of the Passion became more elaborate, and more attention was paid to the role of Christ's mother. One example is the anonymous 14th-century text, ''Meditationes de Vita Christi'', perhaps by Ludolph of Saxony. Barbara Lane suggests this passage from the Vita Christi might lie behind many paintings of the Deposition,〔Lane, ''Altars and Altarpieces'', 89〕 including Rogier's: "Then the lady reverently receives the hanging right hand and places it against her cheek gazes upon it, and kisses it with heavy tears and sorrowful sighs." In her history of the veneration of the Virgin Mary, Miri Rubin writes that in the early 15th-century artists began to depict the "Swoon of the Virgin" or Mary swooning at the foot of the cross or at other moments, and that van der Weyden's ''Descent'' was the most influential painting to show this moment. This swooning was described by theologians with the word ''spasimo''.〔Rubin, 314–315〕 In the early 16th century, such was the popularity of depictions of the swooning Virgin, Pope Julius II was lobbied with a request to designate a holy day as a feast of the ''spasimo''. The request was turned down.〔Rubin, 362〕 Art historian Lorne Campbell has identified the figures in the painting as (from left to right): Mary Cleophas (half-sister to the Virgin Mary); John the Evangelist, Mary Salome (in green, another half-sister of the Virgin Mary), The Virgin Mary (swooning), the corpse of Jesus Christ, Nicodemus (in red), a young man on the ladder – either a servant of Nicodemus or of Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph of Arimathea (in field-of-cloth-of-gold robes, the most sumptuous costume in the painting), the bearded man behind Joseph holding a jar and probably another servant〔the jar is likely an emblem of the Magdalen, containing the 'pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly', with which she anointed the feet of Jesus〕 and Mary Magdalene who adopts a dramatic pose on the right of the painting.〔Campbell, Lorne. "The New Pictorial Language of Rogier van der Weyden", in ''Rogier van der Weyden, Master of Passions'', ed. Campbell & Van der Stock, 2009. 2–64〕 There is disagreement between art historians as to the representation of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Dirk de Vos identifies Joseph of Arimathea as the man in red supporting Christ's body, and Nicodemus as the sumptuously dressed man supporting Christ's legs, the opposite of Campbell's identification.〔De Vos, 21〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Descent from the Cross (van der Weyden)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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