La deposizione
Deposition of Jesus
19th century, oil on canvas.
The canvas placed in the right aisle of the Soccorso church has no date or signature. Jesus deposed from the cross is lying on the burial shroud and supported by Mary, while Magdalene, kneeling, pays him homage. On the left, John enters the scene with a red drape. The background consists of a large tree in the centre and a rocky crag to the right. In the foreground, the instruments of the passion and the anointing bowl remind us of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Brown tones prevail, the postures are stiff, and the faces are composed. The painting may date back to the 19th century.
According to St. Mark, the episode took place in the evening, in the Parascève (“Preparation”, the eve of the Sabbath); Joseph of Arimathea, of whom it is said that he was an authoritative member of the Sanhedrin and awaited the kingdom of God, went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Pilate, surprised that Jesus was already dead, sought confirmation of the death from a centurion and only afterwards granted the body to Joseph. The latter, after acquiring a sheet, laid the body down from the cross and wrapped it in the sheet, then placed it in a rock-cut tomb, which he closed by rolling a stone in front of it. Mary of Magdala and Mary “of Joses” stood watching where the body was buried.
According to St. Matthew, on the evening after Jesus’ crucifixion, the rich Joseph of Arimathea, who had become Jesus’ disciple, asked Pilate for the body, who handed it over to him. Joseph placed the body in a white sheet, laid it in his new tomb, which he had had dug out of the rock and which he closed by rolling a large stone in front of the door, and left. Mary of Magdala and “the other Mary” witnessed the deposition.
Sccording to St. Luke presents Joseph of Arimathea as a member of the Sanhedrin and as a good and righteous person who “waited for the kingdom of God”; this gospel specifies that Joseph did not share the decision of his colleagues. Joseph deposed the body of Jesus from the cross, wrapped it in a sheet and placed it in a tomb dug in the rock, “in which no one had yet been laid”; the evangelist specifies at this point that it was the day of Parascève and that the Sabbath lights were already shining. Observing the tomb and the deposition of the body in it were “the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee”; they went back to prepare perfumes and ointments for the body, but they observed the Sabbath rest.
Sccording to St. John, it is reported that Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, but kept this fact hidden for fear of the Jews. Joseph asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, who granted it to him. Joseph went to the scaffold with Nicodemus, who carried myrrh and aloes; the two deposited the body from the cross and wrapped it in bandages and aromatic oils. At the place of execution there was a garden with a tomb inside that had never been used; there they laid Jesus, for he was Parascève and the tomb was nearby.
Follow us