This scene was an integral part of the iconography of the Passion of Christ from the late Middle Ages onwards, with numerous examples in sculpture and painting, although the scene is not explicitly described in the New Testament.

The creator of the relief presented here places the four figures on a green-brown, meadow-like background. Mary is wrapped in a golden cloak with a veil and embraces her dead son. She holds her head bowed and looks at him in silent grief. John stands at Jesus' head and helps the Mother of God to hold her dead son. His body and face are tense and contorted in pain; he seems to be literally writhing in grief. Mary Magdalene, dressed in a fashionable dress and a colorful, half-falling veil, also shows a look of deep mourning. However, she turns away from the other three and reaches for two vessels of anointing oil on the floor in front of her.

This skillful arrangement of the figures alone creates a narrative tension that demonstrates the artist's great compositional skill. The sensitive design of the faces reinforces this effect and gives the scene a fascinating expressiveness and emotional depth.

Stylistically, the relief belongs to the Brabantine Late Gothic of the period shortly before 1500. From this time on, the area around Antwerp and Brussels was an important artistic centre for wood carving. Numerous sculptors and painters there made altarpieces that were extremely popular and exported to many European countries. The relief shown here could also have originally been part of a carved altarpiece or a series of Stations of the Cross.