The artwork, executed by one of the leading exponents of Mannerism, Rosso Fiorentino, refers to one of the episodes of Christ's Passion (from the Latin pati, "to suffer"), namely the final stage of Christ's life: the Lamentation, in which the figure of Christ is usually isolated or predominant in relation to the other secondary figures, who may be, as in this case, angels. It is a highly private and silent scene, made even more intimate by the use of dim light, intended to make the faithful participant, as though standing beside the actual body of the Redeemer.
The lifeless figure of Christ, with his naked, vigorous, almost sensual body and the livid pallor of a corpse, is barely supported against the balustrade of the Tomb and, in a serpentine pose, seems to be slipping downward; behind him is the Shroud, rendered in an unexpectedly blue colour, while at his feet lie the Instruments of the Passion, foreshortened and projecting slightly beyond the stone step. Around him stand four magnificent angels, one of whom is almost entirely in shadow, holding funeral candles and supporting his body, which seems, rather inexplicably, to be suspended in mid-air despite its solid build. The wound in his side no longer appears to bleed, his face shows no trace of pain, nor do the angels display any sorrow: the artist intended to offer a personal interpretation of the iconography of the Lamentation, choosing to depict the very moment immediately preceding the Resurrection.
This painting is striking in its use of light and shadow. The sensuality of Christ's body is typical of the Italian Renaissance as the human ideas of pleasure were mixed among the euphoria of being a part of the divine. The body of Christ is suspended in mid-air rather than being laid down while the angels look on, possibly to show how the resurrection took place.
