What does despair look like? In 1463, Niccolò dell’Arca’s answer was this:
The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ is tucked into a side chapel inside the Church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna. The terracotta figures are life sized and, while no one is sure of the original arrangement, they were clearly meant to be gathered in horror around the lifeless body of Christ, recently crucified.
Well, actually, Mary Magdalene is running towards Christ, robe and headpiece streaming behind her, mid-scream.
Mary of Cleophas stretches out her hands, as if she could hold the horrible sight back.
John the Apostle is quieter in his anguish.
Mary Salome’s hands are so expressive.
While the world has lost a savior, Virgin Mary has lost a son.
I’m able to recognize the formal qualities of art when I encounter it—materials, scale, expression, composition—but I can’t separate my feelings about the present day when I look at older work. This was the case when I saw The Lamentation in person a few months ago, and even more so as I remember it now and study my photos.
Today is Good Friday, a time for Christians to lament. I too wish to lament.
I lament that my fellow Americans used their right to vote to elect a sociopath, a pedophile’s best friend, someone who gleefully bombs a girl’s school and cultural sights abroad while sending masked goons to kidnap my neighbors. I lament the craven disrespect for art, science, democracy and decency. I lament the cruelty.
Of all the figures in The Lamentation, Nicodemus moves me the most. Unlike the others, who gaze in horror at Christ crucified, Nicodemus looks out, at those who crucified his savior. He is accusing them.
You did this. YOU.
For my fellow Americans who thought it was fine to vote for someone who will destroy the live of countless people, threatening to send a country of 91 million people “back to the stone ages” and who will go to church this Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus (who preached the exact opposite), I want you to know that I am also looking at you in accusation.
You did this. YOU.
How I got to Bologna: Train from Ferrara.
Where I slept: Starhotels Excelsior Price: €133 for a single. Recommended: yes.
Picnic at the Cathedral 
From an outsider in this….as much as one can be in the face of wanton cruelty……Trump is following in the foreign policy footsteps of Obama – Libya bombed into the stone age – and Bush – Iraq. He is not unique.
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Appreciate your perspective here, Helen. Also, important to note that Obama deported lot of people, although I lived in Chicago during his administration and don’t recall him teargassing Halloween parades and terrorizing children in day care.
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I’m no supporter of violence on the part of the state whether internal or external……just that the Trump foreign policies aren’t unique…
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This is an incredible piece: shocking, poignant, reflective. Thank you for highlighting this artwork.
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The immediacy! Niccolò dell’Arca is not letting us escape here—I was pretty freaked out!
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I can’t help but see a parallel to today in this piece too. So many such scenes have been photographed and video’d from the Middle East in the last 20 years, and it never seems to be ending.
Thank you.
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