The Crucifixion

The cross itself and what follows it: the descent, the lamentation, the Pieta and the entombment.

The Crucifixion is the fixed centre of the cycle and the most codified image in the tradition. The cross is placed off the ground with Mary and John at its foot; the Magdalen kneels; the sky darkens; the skull of Adam sometimes lies at the base. The Deposition, the Lamentation and the Pieta are the same event a few minutes later, and painters treated them as separate subjects with their own conventions.