Entombment (fragment)
Author: Unknown
Date: 16th century
Material: Plaster and pigments
Dimensions (cm): H 216 x W 119 x D 2,5
Provenance: Ponte da Barca, Igreja de São Salvador de Bravães
Inventory No.: MAS PD 7
This Entombment, which was probably located on the wall on the Epistle side, follows two engravings by Albrecht Dürer: Saint John holding the Virgin and the figure of a woman with the arms raised are based on Dürer’s engraving of the Lamentation (dating from 1509 – 1510), while the representation of Nicodemus may follow the figuration of the same character in Dürer’s engraving of the Entombment of Jesus (also dating from 1509 – 1510).
According to Paula Bessa, this fresco was part of a vast program that covered the walls of the chancel of the church, representing the cycle of the Passion and of the Resurrection of Jesus. The coat of arms of the Braga archbishop Dom Diogo de Sousa (1505 and 1532), the person who commissioned this program, was placed at the top of the back wall.