Full title | The Crucifixion: Central Panel |
---|---|
Artist | Master of Delft |
Artist dates | active early 16th century |
Group | Triptych: Scenes from the Passion of Christ |
Date made | about 1510 |
Medium and support | Oil with some egg tempera on oak |
Dimensions | 98.2 x 105 cm |
Acquisition credit | Presented by Earl Brownlow, 1913 |
Inventory number | NG2922.1 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
This painting is so crowded it takes a while to understand everything that is happening, but the nuns for whom it was probably made must have had plenty of time to examine the details. It is the central panel of a triptych (a painting made up of three parts) painted around 1510, probably for the convent of Koningsveld near Delft.
We see the story of Christ’s crucifixion. In the centre, Christ hangs from the Cross between the two thieves who were executed alongside him, while Mary Magdalene gazes up from the base. On the left are the Virgin Mary and Saint John with several grieving women; facing them on horseback is Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who ordered Christ’s execution. The patron, dressed in a white habit, kneels in the bottom left corner. In the background are events leading up to the Crucifixion.
This painting is so crowded it takes a while to understand everything that is happening, but the nuns for whom it was probably made must have had plenty of time to examine the details. It is the central panel of a triptych probably painted for the convent of Koningsveld near Delft. The patron, wearing white, kneels in the lower left corner: he is probably Herman van Possum provost in around 1510.
The altarpiece tells the story of the Passion in a narrative that weaves its way backwards and forwards across this panel and the wings, Christ presented to the People and The Deposition. Here the narrative begins in the top right-hand corner, in the garden of Gethsemane where Christ contemplates a chalice paced high on the cliff above him. He is asking ‘Let this cup pass from my lips’. The apostles Peter, James the Greater and John are asleep nearby (Matthew 26: 36–46). Judas, who had been a follower of Christ, here leads the Roman soldiers to arrest him; in the background on the left is his corpse – he later hanged himself from a tree (Matthew 27: 5).
In the top section is the road to Calvary, which began in the left wing. The thieves, dressed in shirts, lead the procession. Christ is carrying his cross and behind him ride the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the chief priests. In the distance is the tower of the New Church in Delft. The procession is watched from a distance by the Virgin Mary and Saint John, accompanied by three women. The woman on the right, who reappears in the same clothes below the Cross and in the right wing, is presumably Mary Magdalene.
In the foreground Christ hangs from the Cross and is mocked by two soldiers, one of whom carries a halberd and uses his fingers to stretch his mouth in a grimace. On Christ’s right is the ‘good thief’ Dismas; on his left the ‘bad thief’ Gesmas (Luke 23: 39–43). Below Dismas are Saint John, the fainting Virgin and four other grieving women, one of whom covers her face with a cloth and another of whom, directly behind the Virgin, was added at a late stage. Various women present at the Crucifixion are mentioned in the Gospels but it is not possible to identify them here.
In the lower left corner is the donor, wearing the white habit of a Premonstratensian canon. In the centre are two exotically dressed children, one of whom holds a bow; it seems to be the pair who, slightly differently dressed but still with a bow, watch Christ carrying the Cross. In the lower right corner is Pilate, accompanied by the chief priests. The grandly dressed man who appears in profile and seems to address Pilate may be the centurion who took charge of the executions and who believed in Christ’s divinity. Behind Pilate are two soldiers, one of whom carries a spear; he is perhaps Longinus, who pierced Christ’s side with his spear.
Technical analysis shows that there is extensive underdrawing for the main figures and prominent buildings, and that there were many changes between the underdrawing and the final painted version. Some figures were altered or even added during the painting phase: the woman below the good thief is drawn and painted on top of his cross and the landscape. The bare strip of wood around the edge would originally have been covered by the frame, now lost.
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Triptych: Scenes from the Passion of Christ
The story of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion) unfolds across three crowded panels. On the left, Christ is led out from his trial; in the centre he has been crucified; to the right, his dead body is taken down from the Cross.
The sacred events seem to be taking place near the city of Delft: we can see the tower of its New Church in the background of the centre panel. The triptych (a painting made of three parts) was probably made for the convent of Koningsveld, just outside Delft. The man wearing a white habit and kneeling at the front of the centre panel is likely to be Herman van Rossum, provost of Koningsveld, who may have commissioned the triptych for the high altar in around 1510.
The story of the Passion, Christ’s torture and crucifixion, unfolds across three crowded panels. On the left, Christ is led out from his trial; in the centre, he has been crucified; to the right his dead body is taken down from the Cross.
The tower of the New Church in Delft is represented in the centre panel and, since the donor wears the habit of a Premonstratensian canon, it seems likely that the altarpiece was made for a Premonstratensian foundation near Delft. The only Premonstratensian convent in the Delft region was Koningsveld, a community of Premonstratensian canonesses dedicated to the Holy Cross, the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and All Saints. The house was under the control of a prioress and a provost. The triptych may therefore have been painted for one of the provosts of Koningsveld, probably Herman van Rossum, who was in that role in the early 1510s. Its subject – the Crucifixion – would have been appropriated for a church dedicated to the Holy Cross. The Premonstratensians followed the rule of Saint Augustine, who is represented on the reverse of the left wing. The church and convent at Koningsveld were totally destroyed in the 1570s.
We don‘t know who the painter was but he seems to have worked in Delft in the early years of the sixteenth century. A second, larger triptych of the Crucifixion in Cologne is in the same style and closely related. He was an eclectic artist, borrowing freely from works by others, including Martin Schongauer, Hans Memling, and Rogier van der Weyden. He was perhaps connected in some way with Lucas van Leyden, as many of his figures are taken from engravings after Lucas’ painting. Indeed, prints from the past as well as contemporary ones were a hugely important resource for late medieval artists; many owned collections of them. All the borrowings in this painting come from prints made in or before 1509 but not from those of 1510, so it seems likely the painting was done around 1510.



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