The Deposition

after Bernard van Orley

National Gallery of Art

Five women and three men gather around the limp, nude body of a man being laid on a stone slab in this square tapestry. The people’s skin is pale, nearly ivory white. The torso of the dead man, Jesus, is being supported by two women, one of whom wraps her arms around his shoulders. The man has a brown beard and hair, and his eyes are slightly open. He has holes in the hand and foot we can see and a gash over his right ribs. A silvery blue cloth is between Jesus and the stone surface, where a copper-colored ointment jar sits with the lid off near the front right corner. The woman embracing him has a white head covering and lapis-blue and white dress. The other woman supporting his torso, to our right, wears a dress that shimmers between frosty lemon-lime green and cobalt blue. Her strawberry blond hair is braided, wrapped around her head, and ornamented with pearls. A third woman to our left bends over and touches Jesus’s far hand to her cheek. She and the others standing in a row behind this group wear robes in tones of slate blue, pale green, blue, and rose red, though some areas appear gray with damage or wear. Behind Jesus and these three women are two more women and three men. They all look on except one woman and man, who look at a chalice a man standing to the right holds. That man has a long gray beard and hair, and a pouch hangs at his waist. The man next to him holds a ring of thorns. The landscape beyond the group has trees with yellow-highlighted and blue-shaded trees and distant buildings and mountains under a blue sky. The scene is framed by an ornamental design of chubby, pale-skinned baby boys playing games amid fruit, flowers, and ribbons. Two boys at the top play with hobby horses. To the right, one child feeds another as a third plays with a stick and chest-high hoop. A boy blows bubbles in the lower right corner, and another plays a drum nearby. A boy with rings of bells wrapped under his knees runs toward the drummer. Two in the lower left corner have captured a bird, and another above them walks on stilts.