The Last Rites, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, c. 1545

The Last Rites, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, c. 1545

etching, h 380mm × w 492mm More details

Here a priest is performing the last rites for a dying man. While most of the women are weeping, the men look on in solemn resignation. Typical of Vermeyen’s work is the crowded, claustrophobic composition with the figures pressed into a confined space. The faces of the female mourners strongly recall those of the women in The Lamentation, also on view here.