The Entombment (recto); Partial Study of the Entombment (verso)

Anthony van Dyck

1617–1618

Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and reddish wash, red and blue chalk, and white gouache heightening, Chalk, Pen

J. Paul Getty Museum

A group of figures are gathered around a central, draped body. The scene is rendered in dark washes and chalks with dramatic lighting. Both sides of this sheet show scenes of the Entombment, probably in preparation for a painting that does not survive or was never completed. Anthony van Dyck based his composition on a painting by Titian, which he knew from a copy by Peter Paul Rubens. Van Dyck exchanged Titian's sweeping horizontal composition for a more tightly integrated, vertical format, allowing him to give greater prominence to the shrouded Virgin, who holds the arm of her dead son. The gracefully turning form of Saint John the Evangelist at the center links the two figures flanking Christ. Van Dyck demonstrated his virtuosity by using a variety of techniques