The unfinished National Gallery painting is The Entombment, Michelangelo’s early oil-on-panel depiction of Christ being carried toward his tomb. It is generally dated to about 1500–1501.
Michelangelo probably began the panel for a funerary chapel at Sant’Agostino in Rome. Documents indicate that he received a commission in 1500 but later returned the payment, and the painting may have been abandoned when he went back to Florence to begin the David.
The work is notable for its unusual upright presentation of Christ’s body and its partially blank areas, including space intended for the Virgin Mary. Attribution was once disputed, but the painting is now generally accepted as Michelangelo’s, while some details and figures remain uncertain.