Analysis of Lamentation over the Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna

This is one of the famous artworks of the period of the Italian Renaissance. It displays the body of Christ laid down on a marble with two people watching over it. Andrea uses the medium of Tempera painting which was the most preferable medium used by Italians. Like his fellow Italians the lamentation artwork was a powerful religious paint which has remained to be remarkable in the history of this world (Lowis, Kristina, and Pickeral, 2009).

Andrea has employed perfectly the foreshortening as his mode of linear perspective. The linear perspective has helped in stimulation and the projection of the body according to the viewer’s perception. The artwork has truncated the feet so that the view of the entire body is not obscured (Lowis, Kristina, and Pickeral, 2009).

The picture is also defined by an outset of a window-like frame. This frame gives an emphasis of the confined space about the confined room so that it looks like a cold slab of a morgue. The viewer is able to capture the physicality of the lifeless body with reference to the room or space where it is kept (Lowis, Kristina, and Pickeral, 2009).

Andrea has used a series of vertical and horizontal lines in his painting. The vertical lines are used in painting the legs arms and the positioning while the horizontal ones are at the bottom edge of the painting. The main purpose of these lines is to reinforce the immobility and stillness of the body of Christ.

Andrea has also used a muted color scheme and a tones that are flesh like which enhances the unrealistic representation that is uncomfortable. The message of the artwork is clear and any viewer can deduce that there is the physical death in this earthly life and there is life after death. This is the key message of the art work (Lowis, Kristina, and Pickeral, 2009).

Reference

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Lowis, K., & Pickeral, T. (2009). 50 paintings you should know. Munich: Prestel.

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