The Entombment

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The Entombment

Michelangelo, circa 1500-1501

Tempera on panel

162 × 150 cm

London, National Gallery

The Entombment is an unfinished painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti (c. 1500-1501). It is housed in the National Gallery of London, England.

The work was source of a series of disputes about its chronological position, although it was generally considered a young work. According to others, it was instead an execution of one of Michelangelo's pupils from a drawing by the master, or directly an imitation[1].

According to documents discovered in 1981[2], Michelangelo had been commissioned a panel for the church of Sant'Agostino in Rome, but in the end the artist at one point gave back the sum received. Although no certainty exists, it is probable that the work in question was in fact the Entombment, which remained unfinished due to Michelangelo's return to Florence.

The centre of the panel portrays Christ carried to the sepulchre. The bearded aged man behind him is Joseph of Arimathea, the man who gave his tomb for Christ's sepulture. The figure on the left is probably St. John, with a long red dress, while keeled at his feet is Mary Magdalene.

The identity of the two figures on the right is uncertain (Nicodemus, the inner one, and Mary Salome have been proposed). The other missing figure is that of the Virgin Mary.