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The Dead Christ Supported by Angels (Pietà with Angels)
Also titled Engelen dragen het lichaam van Christus (Engelenpietà)
Bartholomeus Spranger (Antwerp, 1546–1611)
c. 1587
- Medium
- copper (metal), oil (organic material)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 33.7 cm x width 26.6 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Gift of B.P. Haboldt, in memory of the victims of COVID-19
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions violence, death or gore. How works are placed
About this work
Angels support the dead body of Christ in front of his tomb. In the basket are nails and a crown of thorns: the instruments of his Passion. This small, stirring depiction was intended for private devotion and to arouse compassion as well as hope for redemption after death. Bartholomeus Spranger was one of the most influential artists in Europe in the 16th century and court painter to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, whose exceptional art collection was internationally acclaimed.
