Caravaggio is probably the most revolutionary artist of his time. The Italian painter Caravaggio abandoned the rules that had guided a century of artists before him. These rules had idealized the human and religious experience.
The whole picture is planned along an oblique line that starts from Mary of Clopas who is standing with her arms raised and then slopes down along other figures and ends up at the right hand of Jesus.
The figures rest as if they were a sculptural group on a tombstone which, due to the artist''''s use of light, seems to protrude from the canvas producing a three dimensional illusion.
Attention is drawn to the body of Christ who seems to be suspended despite his weight; a bright light reflects from the white shroud that partially covers his body, thus illuminating him before he will be buried.