The anguish and lamentation of Christ’s death is vividly
clear in this painting by Giotto, The
Lamentation over Christ. The disciples are surrounding the Body of Christ
lamenting His death, though He was to rise again in three days. The women seem
most affected by Christ’s death weeping openly with pained faces. With love for
Him they venerate His hands and feet, while His Mother holds Him in her arms.
Even the angels are seen to lament in the heavens. In contrast to Christ’s
birth when the angels rent heaven with their songs of hallelujah and rejoicing,
Giotto depicts them as weeping and crying in sorrow. The tree on the hill is
without leaf, as if dead, or as in winter, but there is hope that it will burst
into bloom again. Just so for the disciples who have a hope that Christ will
rise again on the third day.
