Immersed in a supernatural light, the monochromatic figures stand glaringly against the black sky. The sketchy painting style gives them a fleeting appearance and, as such, lends the scene a visionary character. Tintoretto demonstrates here his painterly prowess that was admired by his contemporaries and, at the same time, perceived as aesthetically shocking. This painting, a work in its own right, was long interpreted as an oil sketch for Tintoretto’s ‘Crucifixion’ in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice (1566).