Explore the Interpretation of this artwork, The Deposition from the Cross (Pontormo).
This painting suggests a whirling dance of the grief-stricken. They inhabit a flattened space, comprising a sculptural congregation of brightly demarcated colors. The vortex of the composition droops down towards the limp body of Jesus off center in the left. Those lowering Christ appear to demand our help in sustaining  both the weight of his body (and the burden of sin Christ took on) and their grief. No cross is visible; the natural world itself also appears to have nearly vanished: a lonely cloud and a shadowed patch of ground with a crumpled sheet provide sky and stratum for the mourners.  If the sky and earth have lost color, the mourners have not; bright swathes of pink and blue envelop the pallid, limp Christ.Pontormo's undulating mannerist contortions have been interpreted as intending to express apoplectic and uncontrolled spasms of melancholy. The Virgin, larger than her counterparts, swoons sideways inviting the support of those behind her; the Swoon of the Virgin was a controversial moment at the time. The assembly looks completely interlocked, as if architecturally integrated. Legend has it that Pontormo set himself in self-portrait at the extreme right of the canvas; but ultimately, the most compelling and empathic figure is the crouching man in the foreground, whose expression mixes the weight of the cadaver and the weight of melancholy.
This painting plays a key role and is discussed extensively in Sarah Winman's novel, Still Life.
Virgin Pontormo left mannerist Swoon of the Virgin