The Descent from the Cross
El Descendimiento
Christ's body taken down from the cross, his mother fainting in the same curve as his body, ten figures as if carved in a gilded shrine.
Van der Weyden painted it for the chapel of the crossbowmen's guild in Leuven: tiny crossbows hang in the corners of the gold tracery. The figures stand close in a shallow box, like a carved altarpiece come to life.
Mary of Hungary bought it, and her nephew Philip II took it to Spain. The Virgin falls in a swoon that echoes her son's body, and the tears on the faces are painted one by one. Stand before it in 3D ›
More in The Prado
Las MeninasDiego Velázquez, 1656
Saturn Devouring His SonFrancisco de Goya, c. 1819–1823
The Garden of Earthly DelightsHieronymus Bosch, c. 1490–1510
The Third of May 1808Francisco de Goya, 1814
The Nobleman with his Hand on his ChestEl Greco, c. 1580
The Triumph of DeathPieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1562
