Taking christ down off the cross
Descent from the Cross, 1653 Adam Lenckhardt (German, 1610-1661) http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.134 I was searching through my hard drives looking for a specific picture (not this one) when I found a set of pictures that I took at the Cleveland Museum of Art a few years ago.. looking through them this one jumped out at me as a particularly striking piece that I had forgotten about.. I really like it ... it reminds me about a part of the christian redemption story that we tend not to focus too much on.. the sad and dreary work of taking christ down off the cross in (apparent) total defeat. This piece stylizes the figures (including christ) in a very typically european/greek italian renaissance way (muscular, healthy, etc..) ... but it still manages to stir the intense sadness and despair that this moment embodies (no pun intended) .. People who know me know that I am not at all religious in any culturally recognizable way (in fact, I couldn't fault anyone for counting ...