The Entombment 1592 - 1607

Curator: Here we have “The Entombment,” an engraving by Giuseppe Scolari, likely completed sometime between 1592 and 1607. The scene is instantly recognizable, a familiar tableau of grief and ritual. What are your first thoughts? Editor: My gut reaction? Heavy. Visually, emotionally... There's a real density to the composition. The light and shadow play so dramatically, but somehow it almost feels claustrophobic. Even with the open sky above, I feel closed in by all the bodies and the intense focus on the dead Christ. Curator: That "heaviness," I think, comes from the layers of symbolic weight. Consider how burial rites appear cross-culturally, and consider also the history this represents. Here, Christ is depicted not only as a physical body, but as a symbol of sacrifice and, paradoxically, of hope. Note the subtle upward diagonal in the body’s positioning – an almost imperceptible visual echo of resurrection. Editor: You know, the engraver uses all these figures surrounding Christ... they’re practically falling all over themselves. They're shrouded in this desperate need to...what? Preserve the body? Honor him? Almost as though this visual huddle could stave off their grief? It’s moving, but there’s something unsettling there. A desperation that veers into obsession, maybe. Curator: Exactly! That's part of the genius here, I think. Scolari isn't just depicting grief; he's exploring its psychological dimensions. These figures, with their almost frantic gestures, embody the messy, complex emotions surrounding death—the struggle to accept loss, the desperate clinging to what remains. The hooded figures behind Christ give an otherworldly and ominous touch, while still maintaining human form through drapery. The scene as a whole, when put under symbolic pressure, gives a sensation of history pressing down upon those burying the son of God. Editor: The whole visual narrative—I mean, that light! Even in a still image, you feel this moment in time…how precarious life and death really are. There’s real drama there. It is history painting at its finest. What strikes you most profoundly as an artist, though? Curator: For me, it is the vulnerability made public, a universal quality across space and time made everpresent in those final touches from the engraver. I also sense the universal symbolism of offering comfort in this great composition, a simple statement and human value. Editor: That’s such a beautiful reading, I feel much better about this heavy engraving!