Entombment of Christ

A group of mourners gathers in a dark, rocky cavern to bury Jesus. Mary Magdalene kneels in the foreground near her ointment jar and the discarded crown of thorns, while the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist look on from the left. A deep tunnel in the background leads to a sunlit opening, creating a dramatic sense of depth and contrast.

Hendrick Goltzius was a central figure in the Haarlem Mannerist circle, which was influenced by the spiritualist and Neoplatonic ideas of Dirck Coornhert. This series, imitating the styles of earlier masters, reflects the 'Protean' nature of the artist—a Hermetic concept of the soul's ability to transform and mirror the divine through creative mimicry.