Christus Dolens (Bramantino)

The work represents Christ as a Man of Sorrows, frontal, half-length up to the knee, but it may also want to represent the Resurrection. Against the background of a ruined architecture (possibly the sepulcher) and a lunar landscape (with a river, trees and a sailing ship), the emaciated body of Christ stands out very close to the viewer, of a stony whiteness, wrapped in a mantle that draws deep creased paper-like folds, derived from the Nordic painting.

A feeling of austerity and compassion prevails towards the figure who solemnly shows the signs of martyrdom, with an incisive graphic definition of the forms. Instead of the triumphant over death, Christ is depicted with red eyes—an expression of intense suffering and sadness—an almost ghostly pale body, drawn with great precision, as can be seen in the fingers, tendons of the outstretched arm and muscles and chest. The expression of Christ is powerful enough to focus the observer's attention on the sphere of emotions, which is the aspect Bramantino was most interested in presenting.^[3]