Full title | Christ before Pilate |
---|---|
Artist | Master of Cappenberg (Jan Baegert?) |
Artist dates | active about 1500 - about 1525 |
Series | The Liesborn Altarpiece |
Date made | about 1520 |
Medium and support | Oil on oak |
Dimensions | 99.1 x 69.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1854 |
Inventory number | NG2154 |
Location | Room 62 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This is one of two panels in the National Gallery’s collection which were once probably part of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. The shutters would have been attached to either side of the main panel.
The Roman governor Pontius Pilate was reluctant to condemn Christ to death but feared popular unrest if he did not. According to the Gospel of Matthew, he ‘took water, and washed his hands before the multitude’, saying that he was not to blame for Christ’s death (Matthew 27: 24). Here he is seated on a throne while a servant pours water over his hands into a basin.
Christ stands beside Pilate, his body slumped, looking weary and dejected. He wears the crown of thorns; it has pierced his forehead, and blood runs down his face. His appearance contrasts with the bright colours and the sumptuous fabrics worn by Pilate and his wife, and the deep red patterned textile backing his throne.
This is one of two panels in our collection which were once probably part of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. The shutters would have attached to either side of the main panel (of which there are several fragments in our collection).
The two shutters were commissioned in 1517, about 50 years after the dedication of the altar in 1465. This is one of four scenes showing events before and after the Crucifixion, which probably decorated the outer faces of each of the shutters. Two are in our collection and six are in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster (one of the six in Münster is on loan there from a private collection). The inner faces of the shutters were probably painted with a single image each but these are now missing.
The Roman governor Pontius Pilate was reluctant to condemn Christ to death, but feared popular unrest if he did not. According to the Gospel of Matthew, he ‘took water, and washed his hands before the multitude’, saying that he was not to blame for Christ’s death (Matthew 27: 24). Here, he is seated on a throne while a servant pours water over his hands into a basin. The woman behind Pilate is his wife, who had told her husband not to get involved in Christ’s fate because of a dream she had about him (Matthew 27:19).
Christ stands beside Pilate, his body slumped, looking weary and dejected. The crown of thorns has pierced his forehead, causing blood to run down his face. Despite his obvious exhaustion, Christ is detained by a soldier, a sword at his side, who hems him in with his left leg. An aggressive dog guards the steps, and more armed soldiers are gathered behind Christ, waiting to take him to the site of his execution. Christ’s appearance contrasts with the bright colours worn by the other figures, the sumptuous clothing worn by Pilate and his wife and the deep red patterned textile which backs the throne. More glorious than any of these, however, is Christ’s gilded halo.
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Christ before Pilate
The Liesborn Altarpiece
These images once formed part of a large altarpiece made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion, flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy.
In 1517 two shutters painted by the Master of Cappenberg were added to either side of the Master of Liesborn’s original panel. These showed the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, his resurrection and events that occurred afterwards, such as the Pentecost.
The altarpiece was removed in the eighteenth century and later cut up; only fragments survive. Six images from the main panel are in the National Gallery’s collection: three fragments of the central Crucifixion, two complete flanking images (The Annunciation and The Presentation in the Temple) and a fragment of The Adoration of the Kings, another flanking scene. Two further images come from the shutters.
These paintings are fragments from an altarpiece – one of the largest of its time – made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The high altar was consecrated in 1465 by Abbott Heinrich von Kleve and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saints Cosmas, Damian and Simeon, all of whom feature on the altarpiece.
The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy, one on top of the other. In 1517, about 40 years after the main panel was completed, two shutters were commissioned from a different artist, the Master of Cappenberg. These were painted on both sides, and depicted the events leading up to Christ’s death, his resurrection and events that took place afterwards. They were attached to the outer edges of either side of the main panel.
The altarpiece was removed and replaced with another painting in 1704. We do not know exactly when it was cut up into separate pieces but it may have been in the eighteenth century. Many of these fragments entered the National Gallery’s collection after they were acquired from the Kruger Collection in 1854. However, pictures from that collection were resold in 1857, enabled by a special Act of Parliament, and a large number are now in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster (not far from Liesborn); there are some in other collections too. Those retained by the National Gallery include three fragments of The Crucifixion: the head of Christ and two fragments of the figures standing at the base of the Cross, Saint John the Evangelist with Saints Scholastica and Benedict and Saints Cosmas and Damian with the Virgin. Four fragments now in Münster show angels gathering Christ’s blood in chalices – they would have been shown hovering beneath the wounds in his hands where he was nailed to the Cross.
Two of the scenes that surrounded the Crucifixion are also in the National Gallery’s collection: The Annunciation (which was at the top left) and The Presentation in the Temple (the lower of the two right-hand scenes). The other small fragment in our collection shows two of the kings kneeling to worship the infant Christ, who lies in his mother’s lap. This is the central part of The Adoration of the Kings, originally situated at the top right – other fragments from this scene are in Münster. This configuration of central image flanked by lateral scenes painted on the same panel was fairly common in Westphalian altarpieces of this date.
Two scenes from the shutters are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Christ before Pilate and The Coronation of the Virgin. Six scenes from these wings are in Münster (one of the six is on loan from a private collection).






