The Entombment

Dirk Bouts painted this Entombment in the 1450s, probably for a private devotional chapel. He was working in Louvain, in the Duchy of Brabant, and he was one of the leading painters of the Northern Renaissance after Rogier van der Weyden. Christ's body is lowered into a stone tomb. Joseph of Arimathea, in a rich robe, supports the upper body. Nicodemus holds the legs. The Virgin Mary kneels at the left, her hands raised in grief. Saint John supports her. Mary Magdalene kneels at the right, her jar of ointment beside her. The figures are arranged in a shallow space, close to the picture plane, as if the viewer were standing at the edge of the tomb. Bouts painted with the precision and restraint that characterize Northern Renaissance painting. The figures are calm, their grief expressed through gesture rather than expression. Christ's body is pale and thin, painted with attention to anatomy. The wounds on his hands and side are visible. The clothing is painted in deep reds, blues, and greens, each fold described with care. The stone tomb is painted in greys and browns, its texture convincing. The background is a landscape seen through an arch: a road winding through hills, a distant town, a pale sky. This is one of the earliest landscapes in Netherlandish painting, painted with the same precision as the figures. The arch frames the landscape and creates a sense of depth, pulling the viewer's eye past the foreground figures into the distance. Bouts was born in Haarlem around 1415 and moved to Louvain by 1448. He was appointed city painter of Louvain in 1468. His work shows the influence of Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck, but his style is more restrained. His figures are quieter, his compositions more symmetrical, his colors more subdued. The Entombment is a characteristic work. Oil on panel, 93 by 73 centimeters, roughly 37 by 29 inches. Bouts used thin glazes of oil paint to build the colors, a technique developed by van Eyck. The red robe of Joseph is built in layers of red lake over a white ground, giving it a depth and luminosity that tempera could not achieve. This print works in a hallway or a quiet room, where the devotional subject and the restrained palette can be appreciated. The dark colors and the portrait format suit a narrow wall. The 16x20 framed version gives the figures and the landscape enough detail to read. The painting is in the National Gallery, London.