The support consists of three vertically grained oak planks (27.6, 29.1 and 28.6 cm) and is slightly bevelled at the top and bottom. Dendrochronology has shown that the wood for planks I and II came from the same tree, and that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1533. The panel could have been ready for use by 1544, but a date in or after 1558 is more likely. The ground, probably of a light colour, was applied up to the edges of the panel. An ‘imprimatura’, visible through the paint layers, seems to have been applied with broad brushstrokes. Infrared reflectography did not reveal an underdrawing, but it did show that the ladder in the dark background was shifted slightly to the right compared to a previous paint stage. The heads of Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus are painted more precisely than the female figures. Impasto was only used in some of the decorative details.

Poor. The paint layers have darkened and the painting is covered with drops of wax from a previous restoration. The support is unstable and there are significant losses on the right side. The varnish is heavily discoloured and matte.

…; collection Cornelis Hoogendijk (1866-1911), The Hague, before 1902;¹¹Henkels 1993, pp. 161-62. from whom on loan to the museum (inv. no. C-903), 1907-11; donated to the museum from Hoogendijk’s estate, 1912; on loan to the Rijksmuseum Muiderslot, Muiden, 1912-49

Object number: SK-A-2591

Credit line: Gift of the heirs of C. Hoogendijk, The Hague

As usual, Christ is being laid in his tomb (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:40-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42) by Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus.²²For this subject see Kirschbaum II, 1970, cols. 192-96. Mary Magdalen, the Virgin and St John the Evangelist are mourning the Redeemer immediately behind this group, with the two other Marys looking on from a little further back. The Crucifixion is alluded to by the foot of the cross in the background and by the instruments of torture like the crown of thorns in the foreground. Standing prominently in the foreground is a jar of ointment containing the myrrh and aloes with which Christ’s body was embalmed.³³See Kirschbaum II, 1970, col. 192, IV, 1972, cols. 13-14.

The difference in style between the groups of figures in the foreground and background, and the stiff rendering with all the hallmarks of a copy appear to indicate that this is a pastiche of several compositions.⁴⁴See also Technical notes. The central group of Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus and Christ is derived from a half-length ‘Lamentation’ by Hugo van der Goes that is only known from the many copies after it, all of which differ considerably in composition and quality, such as the one in the Rijksmuseum.⁵⁵SK-A-4488. For other examples of this composition see Friedländer IV, 1926, pp. 67, 130, no. 32. Those copies and variations were still being produced late in the 16th century, at the same time as this painting, which can be dated to the second half of that century, partly on the evidence of the dendrochronological findings. The original composition was solely intended to be a devotional work, but the artist of the Amsterdam variant took a more narrative approach, with the still life in the foreground and the extension backwards into the landscape, where the two Marys stand. They, too, look very much like copies, but no literal model for them has been found.
JN

1976, p. 688, no. A 2591 (as c. 1530)

J. Niessen, 2010, 'anonymous, The Entombment, Southern Netherlands, c. 1550 - c. 1600', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20027024