The Entombment - a sketch

This oil sketch is the work of an artist presumably quite conversant with Rubens' consideration of the themes of the Deposition and Entombment in the second decade of the seventeenth century. Its attribution to Rubens was rejected by Burchard when it was in the Christ Collection, and it is by no means certain that the work is contemporary with him. The group of mourners and Joseph of Arimathaea derive from Rubens's free copy of circa 1611 after Caravaggio. They relate more closely to Rubens' sketch of the Entombment in the Courtauld Institute (Princes Gate Collection), where the motif of Saint Mary Magdalen kissing Christ's foot also occurs. The central figure supporting the body of Christ derives from Rubens' Deposition of circa 1617 at Lille.