Lamentation of Christ,

Before Christ’s body is placed in a tomb in the rock, those closest to him mourn over him. Nicolas Poussin shows this old theme—one that is not actually described explicitly in the Canonical Gospels—in a particularly moving fashion. John the Apostle in distraught prayer and Mary fainting are both embodiments of pain depicted in different ways; the two child-like putti are weeping. Poussin stages his composition in a cemetery of antiquity, demonstrating his effort to achieve historical accuracy.