Artwork
The Entombment
The Entombment is an oil painting. It dates from 1575 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Technique & Style
No additional information regarding the painting's current condition, handling, or specific stylistic handling is available in the consulted sources.
The Entombment is executed in oil paint on panel, a support typical of late sixteenth-century Netherlandish devotional production. The work is relatively modest in scale, measuring 86 cm in height by 85 cm in width, giving it an almost square format suited to intimate viewing. Stylistically, it belongs to the religious tradition associated with the Southern Netherlands, where panel painting remained the dominant medium for devotional subjects well into the 1570s.
The square support and oil-on-panel technique are consistent with the workshop practices of that region during the period of its creation in 1575. No additional information regarding the painting's current condition, handling, or specific stylistic handling is available in the consulted sources.
History & Provenance
The Entombment was created in 1575 in the Southern Netherlands, as indicated by its stylistic and material characteristics. The painting is executed in oil on panel and measures 86 by 85 centimeters. Its early ownership history includes Cornelis Hoogendijk, a Dutch collector whose holdings later contributed to major museum acquisitions.
The work entered the Rijksmuseum’s collection, where it has been housed as an anonymous painting of the Southern Netherlandish school. No specific commissioning details or earlier provenance records have been documented in extant sources.
The Entombment is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. The work was previously owned by Cornelis Hoogendijk before entering the museum's holdings. Painted in oil on panel in 1575 and produced in the Southern Netherlands, it measures 86 cm in height by 85 cm in width.
No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Overview
The work is an oil painting titled The Entombment. It depicts a lifeless, unclothed male figure lying on a fabric, surrounded by several figures in dark garments who appear to be handling his body with gentle gestures. The composition is set against a dim, indistinct background, with faint, floating shapes above the scene.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure represents a deceased individual, his pallid skin illuminated against the surrounding darkness, suggesting a focus on mortality and the solemn act of burial. The surrounding mourners, attired in somber robes and head coverings, convey a ritualistic atmosphere, emphasizing themes of grief, reverence, and the transition from life to death.
Artist & collection
