Two Panels from an Altarpiece
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These two paintings of different episodes of the Passion (Christ’s torture and death) were once part of a triptych (a painting in three parts), along with The Virgin and Child with Two Angels, which is also in the National Gallery’s collection.
The three were not, however, made to go together. The two smaller panels of Christ may well have formed part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made by Ambrogio Bergognone in around 1501 (the date on one panel); the picture of the Virgin and Child is earlier, perhaps from the late 1480s, and is probably by Ambrogio’s brother, Bernardino.
Ambrogio Bergognone ran one of the leading painting workshops in Lombardy in the late fifteenth century, and his brother worked closely with him.
Christ kneels in prayer. He gazes up at an angel, who presents him with a chalice containing the instruments of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion). To the right, in a walled garden, three of the apostles sleep while a group of soldiers, led by Judas, peer furtively through an arched g...
Christ, barefoot and weeping but dressed in rich red and blue, is bent under the weight of the Cross. The spikes of the crown of thorns dig into his flesh, and crystal tears drip down his cheeks. He is dragging the Cross to his own crucifixion.The setting is not first-century Palestine, but Renai...
More paintings by Ambrogio Bergognone
Christ, barefoot and weeping but dressed in rich red and blue, is bent under the weight of the Cross. The spikes of the crown of thorns dig into his flesh, and crystal tears drip down his cheeks. He is dragging the Cross to his own crucifixion.The setting is not first-century Palestine, but Renai...
The Virgin Mary stands behind a stone parapet, supporting her infant son with one hand; Christ balances on a green cloth lying over the sill. In the background you can see monks in white habits strolling in the grounds of a large church – one is accompanied by a layman and his dog.The monks are C...
We are clearly looking into heaven in this large painting. The Virgin Mary sits on a carved and gilded throne, the Christ Child standing on her lap. They are flanked by Saints Catherine of Alexandria, dressed as a princess, and Catherine of Siena in the habit of a Dominican nun. The figures are l...
Not on display
An elderly, bearded saint, wearing a bishop’s mitre and holding a book and a crosier, gazes directly, almost challengingly, out at us. We are not sure exactly who he is. He has traditionally been identified as Saint Ambrose, the fourth-century patron of Milan, but he lacks the saint’s traditional...
Not on display
A bearded saint stands reading a book, his left hand resting on a sword, in this quietly contemplative picture. We know, from his dark hair and beard and from the objects he holds, that this is Saint Paul: the sword is the weapon with which he was martyred and the book represents his many writing...
Not on display