Master of Delft, The Crucifixion: Central Panel

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.