How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This little picture formed the right side of a diptych (a work of two parts). It was joined with central hinges to The Adoration of the Shepherds. Ercole made this for the Duchess of Ferrara, Eleonora of Aragon, when he was court painter at Ferrara. Eleonora’s personal prayer centred on the Corpus Christi (Latin for ‘body of Christ’), so this imagery is appropriate. Christ is shown nearly naked, just after his death. Two angels prop up his limp corpse and we can see marks from the nails of the Crucifixion on his hands. A faintly sketched image of Calvary, the site of the Crucifixion, appears on the hill; Christ’s slumped body is being removed from the central cross. Saint Jerome – identifiable by his symbol, the lion – kneels next to Christ’s tomb.
Title
The Dead Christ
Date
about 1490
Medium
Tempera on wood
Measurements
H 17.8 x W 13.5 cm
Accession number
NG1411.2
Acquisition method
Bought, 1894
Work type
Painting
