English: Mary Magdalene, in the immediate foreground, with her long red tresses swirling down her back, kneels at Jesus feet, which are visible at the bottom center. Beyond her, the Virgin Mary clutches her breast, while John the Evangelist looks up with hands clasped.
Tissot used the view of Christ himself. Few painters have conceived a similar composition this daring. Viewers, accustomed to looking at the event from the outside, look to imagine themselves in Christ’s place as he gazed on the enemies and friends who were witnessing, or participating in his death.