The Meditation on the Passion by Carpaccio in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: The Meditation on the Passion

Artist: Vittore Carpaccio (Italian, Venice 1460/66?–1525/26 Venice)

Date: ca. 1490

Medium: Oil and tempera on wood

Dimensions: Overall 27 3/4 x 34 1/8in. (70.5 x 86.7cm); painted surface 26 3/16 × 33 1/4 in. (66.5 × 84.5 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1911

Accession Number: 11.118

This remarkable picture is a meditation on death and resurrection. Christ’s dead body is displayed on a broken throne inscribed in pseudo-Hebrew. A bird—symbol of the soul—flies upwards. The landscape—contrastingly barren and lush—alludes to the themes of death and life, as do the animals. The Old Testament prophet Job sits on a block inscribed in pseudo-Hebrew while opposite is Saint Jerome (ca. 347–420), who wrote a commentary on the book of Job. The turbaned figures in the background would have been familiar to Venetians through their trade with the Middle East and Egypt.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435851