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The Entombment of Christ

1700–1701
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 550
The Entombment is one of the two “jewel-like sculptures” Luisa Roldán gave to the newly installed King Philip V of Spain in 1701, petitioning him to appoint her sculptor to the royal court. In the previous decade she had pioneered a genre of sculpture—powerfully conceived and exquisitely modelled and painted figural groups, made on a deliberately intimate scale—of which this is perhaps the finest. The emotive expressions of the six figures surrounding the body of Christ as he is laid to rest run the gamut from angry disbelief and empty grief, to tender love and sympathy. The Entombment may have been placed in a convent or monastery affiliated with the royal family, or in the family’s private rooms or chapels. In whichever context, it would have inspired meditative devotion, encouraging the viewer to identify with the witnesses to Christ’s Passion.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Entombment of Christ
  • Artist: Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Spanish, Seville 1652–1706 Madrid)
  • Date: 1700–1701
  • Culture: Spanish, Madrid
  • Medium: Polychrome terracotta
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 19 1/2 × 26 × 17 in. (49.5 × 66 × 43.2 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, several members of The Chairman's Council Gifts, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund, Álvaro Saieh Bendeck and Alejandro Santo Domingo Gifts, and Mary Trumbull Adams Fund; Edward J. Gallagher Jr. Bequest, in memory of his father, Edward Joseph Gallagher, his mother, Ann Hay Gallagher, and his son, Edward Joseph Gallagher III; The Bernard and Audrey Aronson Charitable Trust Gift, in memory of her beloved husband, Bernard Aronson; Anonymous Gift and Louis V. Bell Fund, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.482
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Angels mourning over Christ after the flagellation, Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana Spanish, Terracotta, polychromed and gilt, Portuguese
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Dialogos de la pintvra : sv defensa, origen, essecia, definicion, modos y diferencias, Vicente Carducho Italian
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