Arimathea is superintending the lowering of the precious burden; young John, the beloved disciple, supports its weight; Peter has mounted the ladder, with characteristic eagerness, but the memory of his denial is with him, and, fixed in contemplation of the divine face, he lends no hand; and the three Marys are there—the one stretching out her arms with a mother’s yearning love and grief, the Magdalene grasping the foot that she had once bathed with her tears. Each
“The Descent from the Cross.” by Rubans.
attendant figure, though so different in its individual expression of feeling, joins with the others to make an impression of deepest, reverential tenderness. Then, in contrast to these strong forms, so full of life and feeling, is the relaxed, nerveless body of the Dead. I wonder if ever the pitiful helplessness of death, or the reverent awe that the living feel in the presence of their beloved dead, has been more beautifully expressed than in this tender and majestic painting.
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