This episode from the Passion of Christ is related in all the gospels, coming after that of Bearing the Body of Christ, and featuring the same principal figures. According to Matthew, Joseph of Arimathaea 'took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen sheet, and laid it in his own unused tomb, which he had cut out of the rock; he then rolled a large stone against the entrance, and went away. Mary of Magdalen was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.' John mentions that Joseph was helped by Nicodemus, 'the man who had first visited Jesus by night', who brought myrrh and aloes to preserve the body. He also adds that the tomb was in a garden near the place of crucifixion. The setting of the scene so that it conforms to the gospels' account presents a problem which artists have handled in various ways. The action may take place in front of a hollow rock, perhaps with a neatly rectangular entrance and a flat stone slab for a door; or we are within the sepulchre and have a view through a rough archway of the landscape outside. But Italian Renaissance painting, generally disregarding the written word and basing its composition on antique reliefs, has a simple rectangular sarcophagus in an open setting. The body of Christ, lying on a winding-sheet, is about to be lowered into it. Joseph of Arimathaea, who traditionally takes precedence over Nicodemus by virtue of rank and age, holds the sheet at the head; his companion, more humble in appearance, takes the feet. (Their places are occasionally reversed.) The Virgin and John the apostle, who were present at the Crucifixion and in the subsequent scenes leading up to the 'Entombment', stand beside the body. She may lean forward to kiss Christ's face, and is sometimes gently supported by John. Mary Magdalene, as in the preceding scenes, may embrace the feet which in Christ's lifetime she anointed as an act of penitence (Luke 7:36–50); or she stands with her arms thrown up in a dramatic gesture of grief. Two or three other holy women may also be present. When the subject is treated devotionally rather than as an illustration of the gospel narrative, angels may take the place of the human figures. This is to be seen particularly in the art of the Counter-Reformation where they are found carrying the body to the sepulchre or lowering it into the tomb. Since the Entombment forms part of the total concept of the Resurrection the two subjects may sometimes be combined. In the lower half of the picture we have the customary group round the tomb while above is the figure of the resurrected Christ, perhaps accompanied by angels holding the instruments of the Passion.