Scènes de la Vie du Christ : Christ au sépulcre entre la Vierge et saint Jean.

This panel from Mariotto di Nardo's Petit Palais cycle shows Christ laid in the sepulchre, flanked by the grieving Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist. The image belongs to a moment of suspended sorrow between the Crucifixion and Resurrection — the body of Christ prepared for burial, the mourners present but unable yet to comprehend the coming transformation. The tightly vertical format, with Christ's body horizontal at the base and the standing figures above, creates a composition built around contrast between the stillness of death and the animated grief of the living. Di Nardo's Florentine workshop produced many such predella-scale narrative panels for confraternity devotion.

Tempera and gold leaf on panel. The horizontal Christ figure provides a stable base for the composition, while the gold ground eliminates any architectural setting and concentrates attention on the three figures. Mourning postures — bowed heads, gesturing hands — follow established Florentine conventions.