# The Lamentation of Christ [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MICHELANGELO Buonarroti]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Red chalk over black chalk, 411 x 234 mm ## Commentary In this Pietà scene the dead Christ is sitting in an almost upright posture on the sarcophagus, supported by a figure standing behind him. The sheet has been a subject of controversy with regard to its dating and attribution. A connection to the figure of the dead Christ in Michelangelo's early <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/michelan/2paintin/2entombm.html'\)" href="/html/m/michelan/2paintin/2entombm.html">Entombment</a> is obvious, but the present drawing is closely related to the <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/pieta/rondani.html'\)" href="/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/pieta/rondani.html">Pietà Rondanini,</a> on which the artist worked from c. 1552 until his death in 1564. The latter connection, however, is solely of a compositional nature, as the preliminary drawing for Michelangelo's last sculpture, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, differs from the present Pietà. ## Related artworks - [A Man Lifting a Boar onto his Shoulder \(verso\)]() - [Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Judah]() - [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)]() - [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)]() - [Achim - Eliud]() - [Aeneas with a Boy \(recto\)]() - [Allegorical figure]() - [Amminadab \(detail\)]() - [Amminadab \(detail\)]() - [Amminadab]() - [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)]() - [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()