This is an icon of Christ in the Tomb, executed in tempera on panel and belonging to the Veneto-Cretan school of the late fifteenth century. The half-length figure of Christ is shown frontally against a gold background, before the Cross and above the sarcophagus, with his head bowed, eyes closed, arms crossed, and the marks of the Passion visible on his body. On either side are the instruments of torture – the lance, the reed with the sponge, the nails, the hammer, and the pincers; above his head is a scroll bearing the inscription INRI, while the Greek monograms emphasise the image’s connection with the Byzantine icon tradition. The work combines the strict sacred scheme of Eastern Christian art with a more material and emotionally expressive treatment of the body, characteristic of Veneto-Cretan painting at the threshold between the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.

Size: 36 x 28 cm.