The Lamentation with the Two Thieves Crucified

In the Gospel of John, the two men crucified with Jesus are still alive as the Sabbath approaches, and soldiers break their legs so that the bodies can be taken down in time. Cranach, painting in Wittenberg around 1515, leaves them up there. Christ has already been lowered onto a white cloth in the foreground and is held by Saint John, while the Virgin in blue kneels in prayer and Mary Magdalene, in gold brocade, bends to kiss his wounds. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea stand at the right with the crown of thorns. High above them, against a deep blue sky, the thieves still hang twisted on their crosses. The cross between them is empty, and on it Cranach painted his mark, the small winged serpent. The whole panel is only 38 centimetres tall. Much of its later history is lost. It was in Italy at some point, possibly with the Colonna family in Rome, and an old Italian inscription on it names the painter correctly but calls him Dutch and puts him in the 15th century.