The Passion: Descent from the Cross

Lucas van Leyden · 1521
The Cleveland Museum of Art

The eleventh plate of Lucas van Leyden’s Passion of 1521. The ladder still leans against the cross, but the body already lies on the ground.

The dead Jesus lies stretched out. Mary bends over him, a young woman in a turban kneels with clasped hands, and John stands behind. A man is still on the ladder. A jar stands on the ground.

From the text

Joseph of Arimathea came and removed His body (John 19:38)

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes (John 19:39)

They wrapped the body in linen cloths with the spices (John 19:40)

The artist’s own

The mourners gathered round the body — a moment painters added between the taking down and the burial

A jar of ointment

Details

Jesus

His body lies on the ground.

Mourning

A young woman in a turban clasps her hands.

John

He stands behind with his hands joined.

The ladder

A man still stands on the ladder.

Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1923.55.11) · Engraving · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

The verses

John 19:38–40Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body. Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.