Full title | The Crucifixion: Central Panel |
---|---|
Artist | Workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aalst |
Artist dates | 1502 - 1550 |
Series | The Crucifixion Triptych |
Date made | probably 1527-30 |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas, transferred from oak |
Dimensions | 72.2 × 49.8 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bequeathed by Mrs Joseph H. Green, 1880 |
Inventory number | NG1088.1 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
Christ hangs from a T-shaped cross. Sorrowing angels circle above him in a stormy sky, while the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist stand on either side, wringing their hands. The skull – seen from beneath and minus its jaw bone – is probably that of Adam, the first man, but it’s also a reference to Golgotha (‘the place of the skull’), where Christ was crucified.
This image of the Crucifixion forms the central panel of a triptych (a painting in three parts) that was probably made in the workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aalst. It was evidently a popular composition: several versions of it survive.
This panel was transferred to canvas in the nineteenth century, perhaps because one of the oak boards on which it was made had split vertically through Christ’s left wrist.
Christ hangs from a T-shaped Cross, with sorrowing angels circling above him in a stormy sky. The Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist stand on either side, wringing their hands. The Cross has been wedged into place with sticks and stones. The skull – seen from beneath and minus its jaw bone – is probably that of Adam, the first man, but it’s also a reference to Golgotha (‘the place of the skull’), where Christ was crucified.
This image of the Crucifixion forms the central panel of a triptych probably painted in the workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aalst. It was evidently a popular composition: several versions of it survive, and they can be seen in the context of the evolution both of Coecke’s paintings and those of Bernaert van Orley, his teacher. Van Orley seems to have been the first to place the Cross against a semicircle of grieving angels in around 1518, and he took the idea further in his Last Judgement (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) of 1525. But the figure types in this painting, the theatrical movements and the exaggerated postures of the Virgin and Saint John are closer to Coecke’s work than van Orley’s, although the draughtsmanship is less skilful than Coecke’s. The donors in the wings wear the fashions of the mid-1520s and all the parts of the triptych were probably manufactured at about that time, soon after Coecke became a master of the Antwerp Guild.
This panel was transferred to canvas in the nineteenth century, perhaps because one of the oak boards on which it was made had split vertically through Christ’s left wrist.
Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use.
License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library.
License imageThis image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement.
Examples of non-commercial use are:
- Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university)
- Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media
The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side.
As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today.
You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.
The Crucifixion: Central Panel
The Crucifixion Triptych
Two donors – husband and wife – kneel in the wings of this triptych (a painting in three parts) and gaze at the Crucifixion in the central panel. The Annunciation – the moment the Virgin Mary was told she would bear a child – was originally painted in shades of grey on the outside of the wings, but the fronts and backs are now physically separate.
The style of the painting associates it with the work of Bernaert van Orley and especially his pupil, Pieter Coecke van Aalst. Coecke seems to have run a large workshop and several artists of limited ability seem to have been involved in this painting. This image of the Crucifixion was evidently a popular composition: several versions of it survive.
Two donors – husband and wife – kneel in the wings of this triptych, gazing at the Crucifixion in the central panel. The Annunciation was originally painted in grisaille on the outside of the left and right wings, but the fronts and backs are now physically separate.
The style of the painting links it with the work of Bernaert van Orley, and especially with that of his pupil Pieter Coecke van Aalst. Like the figures in the central Crucifixion, Coecke’s compositions are self-consciously staged, as if his people are being directed by choreographers. This was evidently a popular composition: a triptych with different donors was in a St Petersburg collection in the nineteenth century, and three versions of the centre panel survive in European collections. All parts of the triptych were probably made shortly after Coecke became a master of the Antwerp Guild in 1527–8.
We don't know who the donors are, although coats of arms hang on the sides of their prayer desks (the woman’s is completely erased). The man might a member of the Bollis family, possibly Willem Bollis, who in 1519 was a member of the court of the Prince-Bishop of Liège at Sint-Truiden. Coecke’s workshop certainly produced paintings for patrons in Sint-Truiden. They worked for two abbots of St Trudo, the great Benedictine monastery there, painting an Annunciation (Hasselt, Bisdom) for Willem van Brussel, abbot from 1516 to 1532, and producing a series of painted panels to complete a carved altarpiece of the Life and Passion of Christ for his successor, Joris Sarens, in 1534.
The centre panel and the fronts of the wings were transferred to canvas in the nineteenth century. The Annunciation is still on the original oak boards, thinned where they were sawn from the fronts.





Related paintings




