The lamentation (2021) Original Oil Painting by Nicolas Maureau

A grey pair of shorts standing in for a shroud, sadness that floats instead of weighing anything down: The Lamentation draws on the long iconography of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene painted countless times across centuries, but leaves its own meaning unresolved.

It's never quite clear whether this is a descent from the cross or one of the country gatherings so beloved by nineteenth century painters, grief and leisure sitting closer together than either usually allows. The figure in grey shorts is a direct nod to Caravaggio's Deposition of Christ, borrowed and softened rather than reproduced.

What results is a Lamentation without its usual weight, mourning that has lost its certainty about what it's mourning, somewhere between a sacred scene and an afternoon that simply happened to end this way.

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 195 x 130 x 2.5cm (unframed) / 195 x 130cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the back
• Style: Photorealistic
• Subject: People and portraits