RELIEF OF THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

ICONOGRAPHY 

The moment chosen is the instant when the body of Christ is un-nailed from the Cross and lowered to the ground by three men: the person at the top of the ladder on the right is Nicodemus, a servant on another ladder places the weight of the dead body of Christ over his left shoulder and holds the feet of Our Saviour towards Joseph of Arimathea (wearing a rich headdress) who covers them with a shroud. Lastly, a third person steadies the first ladder.

The figure of Mary Magdalene at the centre of the composition carries jars of spices ready to anoint the corpse of Christ.

To the lower left, Mary, greatly affected by the sacrifice of her only Son, swoons and is caught from behind by Saint Joseph and one of the Holy Women to her left.  The group is completed with the figure of another women who holds her hand to her face in a sign of mourning.

The pictorial narration would have been complemented by other reliefs: Road to Calvary, Crucifixion, Holy Burial, Resurrection, etc.