Let’s continue the thread about art and fashion inspired by the Holy Week that we started yesterday by looking at another painting by a Flemish master, The Descent from the Cross (or Deposition of Christ, or Descent of Christ from the Cross) by Rogier van der Weyden.
Painted before 1443, the artwork features several figures identified (from left to right) as: Mary Cleophas, John the Evangelist, Mary Salome (in green), The Virgin Mary (swooning), the corpse of Jesus Christ, Nicodemus (in red), a young man on the ladder (probably a servant of Nicodemus or of Joseph of Arimathea), Joseph of Arimathea (in gold damask robes, the most sumptuous costume in the painting; for some critics Joseph of Arimathea is instead the man in red supporting Christ's body, and Nicodemus is the man supporting Christ's legs), a bearded man holding a jar (probably another servant) and Mary Magdalene.
Showing the influence of Robert Campin, the painting has a great emotional impact: while the facial features are realistic and the vivid colours - especially the reds, blues and greens - contribute to give a sense of reality to the scenes, the figures are enclosed in what looks like a box with a golden background.
The final effect is therefore that of a life sized carved relief filled with polychrome figures forming a tableau vivant or a grand sculptural group frozen in time.
At the same time, the figures form a convincing representation of the scene of Jesus' Deposition from the Cross, also thanks to tactile power the painter infused in his work.
Physicality is emphasized in this painting: Christ’s body is suspended on a cloth, the man in the black and red costume receives the body in his arms, while the servant on the cross takes an arm, almost to apprehend Jesus' body and to touch the flesh and texture of his skin, in a moment that juxtaposes Jesus' human and divine nature.
There are some intriguing fashion elements in the painting that could be considered as texturally tactile for its emphasis on textiles: Mary Magdalene shows an expression of suffering symbolized by the angles of her shoulders and elbows and her physical pain seems to put a strain on the stitches in the seams of her dress. Actually Mary Magdalene isn't wearing a proper dress, but a tightly fitting underdress with a mantel around her shoulders that is falling off, as if she rushed to the Golgotha in a state of confusion.
In a way also the man in the damasked robe trimmed with fur looks untidy: despite his rich gown painstakingly painted by Weyden who shows here a great command of pattern and geometry, he hasn't fastened the robe (look at the tiny hook in the fur collar), his hat is falling off and his hair is messy.
The Virign Mary, in a flowing lapis lazuli long gown, has collapsed to the ground: despite the bright colour of her gown, the position of her body obviously hints at drama. While the other characters are reaching out to Jesus and touching him, her hand and Jesus' are not touching, almost to hint at the fact that Jesus has severed his ties with his mother who will reunite with him upon her assumption.
In some of the attires donned by the characters featured in this painting there seems to be a lack of decorum, a sort of sense of instability, maybe hinting at anxiety, confusion, fear and despair (a stain of blood on Joseph of Arimathea's robe also conjures up feelings of pain and sorrow) under all the apparent grandeur of the gold background and the statuesqueness of the scene.
The painting exercised a decisive influence on other Deposition panels, becoming the most influential Netherlandish painting of Christ's crucifixion, and was often copied and adapted on a large scale in the two centuries after its completion.
Moods from this painting were spotted in a previous post about Raf Simons' Autumn/Winter 2015 collection for Dior that featured references to Flemish art in the flowing gowns, wide capes and dresses slit at both sides (and fastened with gold jewellery-like links) from waist to ankle, a sexualised version of the "surcote", a female garment cut open from the shoulder to hip that was part of the Gothic wardrobe.
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