Deposition from the Cross (detail)

The cross has no upper limb, thereby blunting the pointedness of the arch behind which it stands. There is room at the top only for a view of the mocking panel which declares Christ King of the Jews. Christ is covered with the weals of the flagellation, and blood trickles from the lance wound in his side. More blood runs down the cross to the rock at the base, a stylized representation of Golgotha. Christ’s head lies almost horizontally, his passive face marked only by thin dribbles of blood from the pricks of the crown of thorns.

Vasari claims that one of the figures lowering Christ is a portrait of Michelozzo, the architect responsible for the rebuilding of the convent of San Marco in Florence. Pope-Hennessy suggests that if he is represented at all it is in the figure under Christ’s right arm wearing a black cappucio, or monastic hood.