# Entombment [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [TIZIANO Vecellio]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 137 x 175 cm ## Commentary In the Entombment, the broader and more open brushwork that Titian was now developing serves to trap the light and add a torrid and glittering intensity to the colours. The dead weight of Christ's body is accentuated by collapsing the rhythm of the figures towards the left, resisted only by the bearded figure of Nicodemus. The latter has Titian's features, as if the artist wanted to allocate to himself a responsible role in the burial process, just as Michelangelo had portrayed himself as Nicodemus in his <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/pieta/pieta\_.html'\)" href="/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/pieta/pieta\_.html">unfinished Pietà</A> of c. 1550 in Florence Cathedral. The Gospels describe Christ's tomb as being excavated out of rock, but in Titian's interpretation it takes the form of a classical sarcophagus decorated with the Christian themes of Cain and Abel and the Sacrifice of Isaac - Old Testament events considered to prefigure the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The corner of the sarcophagus projects into the very front of the picture plane in a cutting analogy of the disciples' grief. The motif of the Virgin holding the limp arm of Christ is inspired by <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/r/raphael/3umbtrip/37entom.html'\)" href="/html/r/raphael/3umbtrip/37entom.html">Raphael's Entombment</A> in the Villa Borghese and perhaps also by Aretino's Humanity of Christ. ## Related artworks - [A Knight of Malta]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Allegory of Time Governed by Prudence]() - [Angel of the Annunciation]() - [Annunciation]() - [Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle \(detail\)]() - [Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle]() - [Assumption of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Assumption of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Assumption of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Assumption of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()