Artist: Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino) (Italian, Brescia ca. 1498–1554 Brescia)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 94 1/2 x 74 1/2 in. (240 x 189.2 cm)
Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1912
Accession Number: 12.61
This somber and moving altarpiece was painted just before the artist’s death in 1554. It was commissioned by a lay society, or confraternity, and hung in their oratory in Brescia. There the members would have meditated on the moments following Christ’s death, when he was still surrounded by his followers, and thought of the meaning of the inscription, "Christ became obedient even unto death." The austere landscape, touched by light, is a foil for the figures with their controlled emotions.