One of the most interesting paintings about the "Christ theme" (Lamentation of Christ by Andrea Mantegna c. 1480)

Lamentation of Christ
Andrea Mantegna
(c.1480)
Picture I

Kimmo Huosionmaa

There was one painting on the Internet, what I wanted to introduce to you, my dear readers. It is painting, what the artist Andrea Mantegna ( c. 1431-1506) painted in the year 1480, and the name of that painting is Lamentation of Christ.  This painting shows Christ after the death, but there is something strange about this picture. The man, who lays in the bed seems sleeping, and that is very interesting. And one of the more interesting parts of the painting is the "face of alien'' or "angry man" between the legs of that man.  But this might be the result of my imagination. Maybe the sheet is only the position, that this image comes to my mind, and nobody else sees this image.


That face actually looks like angry man's face, and it is hidden in the crinkle of the sheet. But sometimes I think that I only imagine that detail, and the effect causes only my imagination. This painting is the very unusual way to show the Christ after the death because this man seems more like sleeping, and the painter is the very unusual character because this painting has been made the woman, or the man, who used woman's name.


Of course, this painter was mentioned as the man, but the name seems like woman's name. And I must think one thing, what might happen in the crucifixion of the Christ. Maybe then somebody put some poison in the body of the victim, what caused deep anesthesia, and after that, the person would just wake up after some time. When we are thinking about the situation, that the man would be crucified, there is one change, that somebody would put to ropes what are too tight to arms, that they would close the flow of blood.


And in that case, the victim would survive. Maybe this was used in cases when the Roman spy must be executed, and the action should confess the people. In some cases, those Roman spies must be very hated, and that's why their death must be framed. But in this painting is the "alien face", and somebody has sometimes claimed, that this picture has been painted, because some "alien" were put in sleep, and prepared for extreme long space trip, but this is, of course, the only hypothesis. Maybe that face or skull is only imagination and the reason for it is that I have read too many writings about some hidden codes in some paintings. But the painter, who made this painting was also top man in the world of art, and that's why he might hide some codes in his paintings.


We might say, that Leonardo Da Vinci was not the only painter in the world, and also others would make secret codes and hidden pictures in their works. Some of them might make them with humor, and maybe this artist has hidden the codpiece in that picture for fun, or because he was tired about knights and their traditional way to fight and playing tough. And maybe, this painting portraits dead or injured knight. The injuries of the body, what is portrait in this painting seems the little bit like the rash, but this is only my own opinion about this painting.


But when we are thinking about this artist and his skills, we must say that even Leonardo Da Vinci took influence about his paintings. And that doesn't remove the strange detail in that painting, what would cause problems for the painter, who had woman's name. In that time every artist were men, but I think that sometimes women made also those paintings, what were sold in the name of their husbands. But I think that this kind of things was quite dangerous, because if somebody plagiarized other person's work, would that be against principals of the art. 

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamentation_of_Christ_(Mantegna)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Mantegna

Picture I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamentation_of_Christ_(Mantegna)#/media/File:The_dead_Christ_and_three_mourners,_by_Andrea_Mantegna.jpg

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