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Lamentation of Christ, c. 1602-06, Galleria Borghese

NARRATOR: Exhibition co-curator Kirk Nickel:

KIRK NICKEL: Not long after entering Antwerp’s Painters Guild and thereby becoming a master painter in his own right, Rubens traveled to Italy. This was a relatively common sort of trip that talented and ambitious European artists would take.

NARRATOR: Rubens went to Italy in 1600, then in his early twenties. During his eight years there he made this painting, probably for a wealthy cardinal. It shows Christ’s dead body, just taken down from the cross. Behind him is his mother, Mary. Here’s exhibition co-curator, Sasha Suda:

SASHA SUDA: The Virgin is in incredible anguish. // She looks up to the sky, presumably to God for strength. God's own presence is indicated through the stream of light. The physicality of Christ is notable.

NARRATOR: The poignancy of seeing Christ’s helpless, dead body like this, right after he died to save mankind, is intended to strengthen a viewer’s Christian faith. Rubens’ ability to portray the human body with such expressiveness and realism grew during his time in Italy, as he studied Italian Renaissance and contemporary painting. And so did his knowledge of classical sculpture, which he would draw on for the rest of his career. Notice that the tomb Christ rests on is actually a beautifully-rendered Roman sarcophagus.

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