The Stirring Sadness Depicted in ‘The Descent from the Cross’ by Rogier van der Weyden
“Rogier van der Weyden, historians of art have always claimed, was an original inventor, the creator of innovatory motifs, and these often have to do with the manifestation of emotions.” (Barasch, 1987, p. 21).
To initiate this analysis on ‘The Descent from the Cross’ we must first explain what is depicted on this piece of wood. Right in the centre we have Jesus (who has died) being lowered from the cross, surrounded by several figures, including his mother ‘The Virgin Mary’. Some more familiar figures include John the Evangelist in red, supporting her, and Mary Magdalene on the far right. Rogier van der Weyden used several elements to portray the true sadness in this scene, including a lack of background “noise”, a microscopic attention to detail and the addition of a recognisable mother-son bond.
The first vision-grabbing element of this painting is the fact that there are no distractions in the background; it is plain brown, matching the oak panel that the artwork is originally depicted on, with some simple details in the corners. Furthermore, the characters surrounding Jesus seem to be encroaching the space around Jesus, drawing our eyes forever inwards to the unfolding drama.
After having been initially drawn into the picture before us, the second aesthetic element makes an appearance: Van der Weyden’s incredible attention to detail through his use of oil paint. If we look very closely we can see tears flowing from nearly all the faces of the surrounding crowd, painted in a realistic way; Mary Magdalene’s eyes are visibly welling up and in addition to her tears we can see the water building up in the tear-duct of her left eye. Linking to this realistic depiction of grief — but also to Van der Weyden’s notoriety as a “trend-setter” of his time — is the lady painted on the far left holding her hand(kerchief) to her face, with most of her face still showing. After Van der Weyden’s peers saw this painting, her pose became a “widely accepted pictorial formula” (Barasch, 1987, p. 24) and was used accordingly to show grief and profound emotion.
Our third element, which is probably the most dramatic and will draw the most empathy from an audience, is the relationship shown between mother and son. There is some discrepancy as to whether or not the Virgin Mary was present at all during the deposition of Christ, since she is not specifically mentioned at the scene: “The presence of a group of women is mentioned… to prepare for their future role as witnesses of the empty tomb (Matt. 27.55–56; Mark 15.40–41 …) Matthew and Mark name two Marys…” (Porter, 1995, p. 206–207). We could therefore assume that Van der Weyden chose to paint a distraught mother who has fainted at the sight of her dead son into the painting to extract more sympathy and empathy from an already emotional audience, as this element would be truly relatable for many. A nice touch is the similarities in their poses, solidifying the link between them as mother and son.
To conclude, Rogier van der Weyden’s incredible eye for detail, his heart-wrenching portrayal of a mother losing a son and his use of a shallow, simple background to emphasise the central scene even more has made it possible for him to create a painting that would elicit powerful emotions from any audience regarding it, solidifying its important place in history.
Sources:
Barasch, M. (1987). The Crying Face. Artibus Et Historiae, 8(15), 21–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1483270
The Descent from the Cross — The Collection — Museo Nacional del Prado. (2017). Museodelprado.es. Retrieved 20 September 2017, from https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-descent-from- thecross/856d822a-dd22–4425-bebd-920a1d416aa7
Porter, J. (1995). The Illustrated Guide to the Bible (1st ed., pp. 206–207). London: Oxford University Press.
