OIL PAINTING: The Lamentation, 1618-1620
In addition to portraits, Van Dyck also painted grandiose religious and mythological compositions. His Lamentation of Christ, executed as a commission from an Italian abbot, is imbued with something of a theatrical character by Mary's expansive gestures. Van Dyck shows his sense of the monumental in this biblical theme in which the intimate emotion of the depicted characters enjoys the viewer's fullest attention.