After the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea received permission from Pontius Pilate to retrieve and bury Christ's body. The Lamentation refers to the moment when, after having been lowered from the cross, Christ is mourned by those present. The Lamentation is one of the most popular episodes in religious art as it presents one of the central moments in the story of salvation. Examples in Italy include Giotto's version in the Arena Chapel in Padua (1305), Andrea Mantegna's foreshortened rendition in the Milan Brera (c. 1490), Sandro Botticelli's versions in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan and the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (both 1490s), and Andrea del Sarto's Lamentation in the Florence Palazzo Pitti (1524). Northern examples include the version by Petrus Christus in the Brussels Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts (c. 1448) and Albrecht Dürer's in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (1500-1503).
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.