Explore The Entombment

Read About This Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens painted one of the most heartbreaking moments in the Christian story—when Jesus’s body was placed in a tomb after he died on the cross. The painting shows the people who loved Jesus gathering around him right after his death. John the Evangelist, wearing a bright red robe, holds up Jesus’s heavy body. Behind them, Mary Magdalene cries. Another Mary (the mother of two of Jesus’s followers) hangs her head sadly. Jesus’s own mother holds his head in her lap and looks up to heaven, maybe asking God for help or comfort.

Rubens wanted people looking at this painting to feel like they were really there. He didn’t hide the horrible details of how Jesus died. You can clearly see the deep wound in his side that’s still bleeding and the holes in his hands where nails went through them. Jesus’s face shows pain and suffering. Rubens painted Jesus’s skin with a greenish color to show he was dead, while John’s skin looks healthy and alive. This big difference makes Jesus’s death feel even more real and shocking.

This painting was probably made to hang above an altar in a small church chapel. If you look closely, you’ll see clues that connect Jesus’s death to communion. The stone slab where his body lies looks like an altar. The bundle of wheat next to the body stands for the bread used in communion, which represents Jesus’s body. Rubens included these details to help people in the 1600s connect this old story to their own church services.

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

• Why do you think Rubens showed Jesus’s wounds and suffering so clearly instead of hiding them? How might this affect someone viewing the painting in a church?
• What feelings or mood does the painting create? How do the colors (like John’s red robe and Jesus’s greenish skin) help create that mood?
• Jesus’s mother is looking up at the sky. What do you think is going through her mind at this moment?
• Do you think seeing a painting like this makes a story feel more real than just reading about it? Why or why not?
• Look at how each person in the painting is positioned and their facial expressions. What does this tell you about how each person is dealing with their sadness?