The Deposition: Right Hand Panel

The Master of Delft painted this Deposition as the right panel of an altarpiece around 1510 for the National Gallery. The anonymous master's triptych was a significant commission for a Delft church, demonstrating the high quality of painting produced in this important Dutch city. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel renders the descent from the cross with careful attention to the physical mechanics of lowering the body, demonstrating the precise Netherlandish technique and narrative clarity characteristic of this accomplished anonymous master.