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The Entombment by Moretto da Brescia

Moretto da Brescia · 1554-01-01

This is "The Entombment" by Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto da Brescia. He completed it in 1554, and died that December. It is very likely his final painting.

A woman, probably Mary Magdalene, presses her face against Christ's limp hand in the lower right corner. It is the most intimate gesture in the composition, a private farewell inside a public act of carrying the body. Above her, two men bear the weight of the torso, their hands communicating both physical strain and reverence.

The Latin inscription along the bottom edge quotes Philippians: "Actus est obediens usque ad mortem", He was obedient even unto death. Moretto did not simply illustrate a Bible story. He framed it as a sermon on obedience, painted at a time when the Catholic Church was entering the Counter-Reformation and demanding exactly this kind of doctrinal clarity from its artists.

Moretto spent his entire career in and around Brescia, painting altarpieces for local churches. Many are still there. This one, painted in oil on canvas, is somber and restrained, a late style that moved away from the bright colorism of his youth. If it is indeed his last work, then the subject he chose to exit on was a body being laid to rest.

Details

His name was Moretto. His final months went into this canvas.
His name was Moretto. His final months went into this canvas.
Christ's body is carried toward the tomb.
Christ's body is carried toward the tomb.
Look at the woman pressing her face to his hand.
Look at the woman pressing her face to his hand.
The inscription below reads: He was obedient even unto death.
The inscription below reads: He was obedient even unto death.
Her bowed head and veil frame sorrow with classical restraint; the proximity to Christ's face creates an intimate pietà-like moment
Her bowed head and veil frame sorrow with classical restraint; the proximity to Christ's face creates an intimate pietà-like moment
Transcript

1554. An aging painter in Brescia begins his last work. His name was Moretto. His final months went into this canvas. Christ's body is carried toward the tomb. Look at the woman pressing her face to his hand. The inscription below reads: He was obedient even unto death. In December 1554, the month this was finished, Moretto died.