Botticelli became associated with the Florentine School under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici an era historians characterize as a golden age.

After Jesus was crucified his remains were removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body.

One specific type of Lamentation depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Christ; popularly known as the Pietà (Italian for "pity").

[2][3] The portrait shows the inert body of Christ surrounded by the Virgin, St. Peter, and Mary Magdalene, St. John the Evangelist, St. Jerome and St. Paul.

The sad expressions of the characters were a novelty in Botticelli's art: under the spiritual influence of Savonarola's preachings in Florence, which began around the time the work was executed, he started in fact to abandon the allegoric inspiration that had made him a favorite of the Medici court in favor of more intimate and painstaking religious reflection.