wing your attention to Christs head. As seen in the Dead Christ, artists had learned how to use foreshortening to make their works more realistic and create a truly three-dimensional space in their work. Now paintings werent flat idealized forms as in Deposition, but alive, real figures that give the viewer a window on the world. However, in this piece, Mantegna made the feet smaller than they should be realistically so they wouldnt cover up the bulk of the subject.One of the most moving features of this work is seen in Mantegnas modeling of Christs wounds. The skin comes out and the wound protrudes into the body convincing you that He has been pierced through. The cross isnt needed to portray the suffering that Christ went through as these wounds testify to the viewer of the pain and agony of the crucifixion. The body of Christ is anatomical and proportional thanks to the renewed interest in the nude and the study of the human body by the Renaissance artists. The contrasting light and detailed modeling of the body and cloth give you the sense that this really is a form that occupies the space atop the alter, not just an idealized figure on a flat surface. The study of contrapostto is evidenced in the Dead Christ as the alter now supports the weight of the subject.However, realistic Christian subjects in art were no longer enough to keep patrons in the Church. Catholicism, having previously suffered through the Great Schism, was now being attacked by the Reformation and the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin. These Protestant leaders taught that the Church had fallen, that indulgences were wrong, that art in the Church was idol worship and that transubstantiation wasnt real. Luther wrote an open letter to the Church denouncing these practices and posted it wherever he could, quickly gaining a loyal following. The Catholic Church was starting to lose its patrons and had to resort to the inquisition to teach the masses ...
