The Descent from the Cross (Rogier van der Weyden)
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''The Descent from the Cross'' (or ''Deposition of Christ'', or ''Descent of Christ from the Cross'') is a panel painting by the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden created , now in the
Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
, Madrid. The crucified Christ is lowered from the cross, his lifeless body held by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The date is estimated based on the work's style, and because the artist acquired wealth and renown around this time, most likely from the prestige this master work brought him. It was painted early in his career, shortly after he completed his apprenticeship with Robert Campin and shows the older painter's influence, most notable in the hard sculpted surfaces, realistic facial features and vivid primary colours, mostly reds, whites and blues. The work was a self-conscious attempt by van der Weyden to create a masterpiece that would establish an international reputation. Van der Weyden positioned Christ's body in the T-shape of a
crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...
to reflect the commission from the
Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
guild of archers (
Schutterij Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...
) for their chapel (). Art historians have commented that this work was arguably the most influential Netherlandish painting of
Christ's crucifixion The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and considere ...
, and that it was copied and adapted on a large scale in the two centuries after its completion. The emotional impact of the weeping mourners grieving over Christ's body, and the subtle depiction of space in van der Weyden's work have generated extensive critical comments, one of the most famous being, that of Erwin Panofsky: "It may be said that the painted tear, a shining pearl born of the strongest emotion, epitomizes that which Italian most admired in Early Flemish painting: pictorial brilliance and sentiment".


Description

In their accounts of the descent of Christ's body from the Cross, the evangelists relate the story only in connection with the Entombment of Christ. According to the canonical gospels, Joseph of Arimathea took Christ's body and prepared it for burial. John (19:38–42) adds one assistant, Nicodemus. None of these accounts mention Mary. During the Middle Ages, the narrative of the Passion became more elaborate, and more attention was paid to the role of Christ's mother. One example is the anonymous 14th-century text, ''Meditationes de Vita Christi'', perhaps by
Ludolph of Saxony Ludolph of Saxony (c. 1295 – 1378), also known as Ludolphus de Saxonia and Ludolph the Carthusian, was a German Roman Catholic theologian of the fourteenth century. His principal work, first printed in the 1470s, was the ''Vita Christi'' ( ...
. Barbara Lane suggests this passage from the
Vita Christi The ''Vita Christi'' (''Life of Christ''), also known as the ''Speculum vitae Christi'' (''Mirror of the Life of Christ'') is the principal work of Ludolph of Saxony, completed in 1374. The book is not just a biography of Jesus, but also a his ...
might lie behind many paintings of the Deposition, including Rogier's: "Then the lady reverently receives the hanging right hand and places it against her cheek gazes upon it, and kisses it with heavy tears and sorrowful sighs." In her history of the veneration of the Virgin Mary, Miri Rubin writes that in the early 15th-century artists began to depict the "
Swoon of the Virgin The Swoon of the Virgin, in Italian Lo Spasimo della Vergine, or Fainting Virgin Mary was an idea developed in the late Middle Ages, that the Virgin Mary had fainted during the Passion of Christ, most often placed while she watched the Crucifixi ...
" or Mary swooning at the foot of the cross or at other moments, and that van der Weyden's ''Descent'' was the most influential painting to show this moment. This swooning was described by theologians with the word ''spasimo''. In the early 16th century, such was the popularity of depictions of the swooning Virgin,
Pope Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or th ...
was lobbied with a request to designate a holy day as a feast of the ''spasimo''. The request was turned down. Art historian Lorne Campbell has identified the figures in the painting as (from left to right):
Mary Cleophas According to the Gospel of John, Mary of Clopas ( grc, Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, ''María hē tou Clōpá'') was one of the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus and bringing supplies for his funeral. The expression ''Mary of Clop ...
(half-sister to the Virgin Mary); John the Evangelist,
Mary Salome In the New Testament, Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the Myrrhbearers, the women who found Jesus's empty ...
(in green, another half-sister of the Virgin Mary),
The Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
(swooning), the corpse of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, Nicodemus (in red), a young man on the ladder – either a servant of Nicodemus or of Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph of Arimathea (in field-of-cloth-of-gold robes, the most sumptuous costume in the painting), the bearded man behind Joseph holding a jar and probably another servant and
Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
who adopts a dramatic pose on the right of the painting.Campbell, Lorne. "The New Pictorial Language of Rogier van der Weyden", in ''Rogier van der Weyden, Master of Passions'', ed. Campbell & Van der Stock, 2009. 2–64 There is disagreement between art historians as to the representation of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Dirk de Vos identifies Joseph of Arimathea as the man in red supporting Christ's body, and Nicodemus as the man supporting Christ's legs, the opposite of Campbell's identification.


Sources and style

The work is unique in the period because of Mary's swoon; her collapse echoes the pose of her son, as far as to the two figures that hold her as she falls. This pose was entirely new for
Early Netherlandish art Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especial ...
. The sentiment, however, is a direct reflection of the mystical devotion expressed by Thomas à Kempis' popular treatise '' The Imitation of Christ'', first published in 1418. The text, just as the image here, invites the reader or viewer to personally identify with the suffering of Christ and Mary. The doctrines of
Denis the Carthusian Denis the Carthusian (1402–1471), also known as Denys van Leeuwen, Denis Ryckel, Dionysius van Rijkel, Denys le Chartreux (or other combinations of these terms), was a Roman Catholic theologian and mystic. Life Denis was born in 1402 in that ...
also emphasized the significance of the Virgin Mary and her belief in Christ at the moment of his death. Denis expresses the conviction that the Virgin Mary was near death when Christ gave up his spirit; Van der Weyden's painting powerfully conveys this idea. The shape of the crossbow can be seen in the bent and contorted outline and curve of Christ's body and arched back, which seems to reflect the patronage of the Greater Guild of Crossbowmen. Powell argues that in medieval theology, a common metaphor compared the form of Christ on the cross to a taut crossbow: "
his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...
bow consists of a piece of wood or horn and a string, which represents our Saviour. The string can represent his most holy body, which was miraculously strained and stretched in the suffering of his Passion." The fourteenth-century poet, Heinrich von Neustadt, wrote: "He was laid out on the cross:/There were his pure limbs/and his arms drawn/Like the string of a bow." In Rogier's ''Deposition'', Christ's removal from the cross is pictured as the relaxation of a bow that has released its arrow. Dirk de Vos suggests that van der Weyden wished to evoke a life sized, carved
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
filled with polychrome figures, and thus elevate his painting to the level of grand scale sculpture. The work's corners are filled with carved gilded tracery, with the presentation of living figures on a stage intended as a tableau vivant, or sculptural group, the latter of which is created through the sense of condensed movement within a single instant. Mary faints and is supported by St John who rushes to her assistance. The man on the ladder lowers Christ's body is already reinforced by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both of whom seems to want to carry it to the right of the pictorial space. Nicodemus's movement transforms the weeping Magdalene into a statue frozen in time. De Vos writes: "Time seems to have solidified into a composition. And what a composition. Interplay of undulating lines, swaying poses and counterposes of figures have rightly been compared to technique of counterpoint in polyphonic music." The image can be read as a petrified synthesis of all the stages during and after the Descent from the Cross: the lowering of the corpse, the Deposition, Lamentation and the
Entombment Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
. Christ's feet appear to be still nailed together, while the spread of His arms retains the position of His body on the Cross. Christ's body is shown as if held out for the concentrated gaze of the viewer. Joseph of Arimathea looks across the body towards the skull of Adam. Joseph appears as a sumptuously dressed burgher and has the most portrait-like appearance of the figures in the painting; his gaze links the hands of Christ and his mother, the new Adam and Eve, with the skull of Adam. Thereby visualising the essence of the Redemption. De Vos also analyses the spatial complexity of the painting. The action takes place in a space barely a shoulder-width deep, yet there are no fewer than five levels of depth within the painting: the Virgin Mary at the front, the body of Christ, the bearded figure of Joseph of Arimathea, the cross and the assistant on his ladder. At the "back" of the painting, the assistant breaks the spatial illusion, by allowing one of the two nails he holds to protrude in front of the painted niche. Campbell argues that the key to the work is not naturalism in the detail of the painting, but rather the use of distortion to induce a sense of unease in the viewer. By including completely irrational details and by distorting otherwise extremely faithful images of reality, the artist shocks us into reconsidering our attitudes to his subjects. Campbell suggests that, in certain aspects, Rogier has more in common with
Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
or the
Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
of ''Guernica'' than with his contemporaries. An example of the play with the illusion of space can be seen in the young man at the top of the ladder holding the nails withdrawn from Christ's body. Campbell points out that this servant behind the cross appears to have caught his sleeve in the wooden tracery depicted at the top of the painting. The head of one of the bloody nails that he holds is in front of the fictional wooden picture frame, though the point of the other nail is behind the tracery. Campbell argues that, in order to prevent these spatial distortion from becoming too obvious, Rogier took pains to conceal the principal pictorial junctions in the picture. For example, the ladder is in an impossible perspective: its top is behind the cross while its foot appears to be in front of the cross. To conceal the points at which the Cross and the ladder meet the landscape, Rogier has greatly lengthened the Virgin's left leg, so that her left foot and mantle cover the base of the Cross and one upright of the ladder.


Provenance

The painting was commissioned by the Greater
Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
of Crossbowmen of
Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
and installed in the Chapel of Our Lady Without the Walls.De Vos, 185–186 The tiny crossbows in the side spandrels of the picture reflect the original patronage. De Vos and Campbell both give an approximate date of 1435 for the painting. De Vos argues that the earliest known copy of Van der Weyden's ''Deposition'', the ''Edeleheere triptych'' in Leuwen, may have been completed by 1435, certainly before 1443. This implies that Van der Weyden's painting pre-dates it. The painting was exchanged around 1548 for a copy by
Michael Coxcie Michiel Coxie the Elder, Michiel Coxcie the Elder or Michiel van Coxcie, Latinised name ''Coxius''Michiel Coxie (I) ...
and an organ. The new owner was Mary of Austria, sister of
Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...
, for whom she governed the Habsburg Netherlands. The painting was initially installed in Mary's castle at
Binche Binche (; wa, Bince; Dutch: ''Bing'') is a city and municipality from Wallonia, in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Since 1977, the municipality consists of Binche, Bray, Buvrinnes, Épinois, Leval-Trahegnies, Péronnes-lez-Binche, Ressaix, an ...
, where it was seen by a Spanish courtier, Vicente Alvárez, who in 1551 wrote "It was the best picture in the whole castle and even, I believe, in the whole world, for I have seen in these parts many good paintings but none that equalled this in truth to nature or devoutness. All those who have seen it were of the same opinion." Alvárez had accompanied the future king of Spain,
Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...
on his tour of his possessions in the Netherlands. After inheriting the ''Descent'' from his aunt Mary in 1558, Philip transported the painting to Spain, where it was installed in his hunting lodge, El Pardo. On 15 April 1574, the painting was recorded in the inventory of the monastery palace which Philip had founded, San Lorenzo de El Escorial: "A large panel on which is painted the deposition from the cross, with our Lady and eight other figures ... by the hand of Maestre Rogier, which used to belong to the queen Mary". When
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
broke out in Spain in 1936, many religious works of art were destroyed. The
Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...
took action to protect its artistic masterpieces; ''The Descent from the Cross'' was evacuated from El Escorial to
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
. It was brought to Switzerland by train in the summer of 1939, where the Spanish Republic publicised its plight with an exhibition: "Masterpieces of the Prado", held in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in
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. That September, the painting returned to the Prado, where it has since remained. By 1992, the ''Descent'' was in a state of decay with cracks in the panel threatening to split the painting, and a marked deterioration of the paint surface. A major restoration of the painting was carried out by the Prado, under the supervision of George Bisacca from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York.


Influence

The work has been often copied and is extremely influential; within van der Weyden's own lifetime it was considered an important and unique work of art. In 1565, the
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
publisher
Hieronymus Cock Hieronymus Cock, or Hieronymus Wellens de Cock (1518 – 3 October 1570) was a Flemish painter and etcher as well as a publisher and distributor of prints.
published an engraving by
Cornelis Cort Cornelis Cort (c. 1533 – c. 17 March 1578) was a Dutch engraver and draughtsman. He spent the last 12 years of his life in Italy, where he was known as ''Cornelio Fiammingo''. Biography Born in Hoorn or Edam, Cort may have been a pupil of D ...
, the first graphic reproduction of Rogier's ''Descent'', which is inscribed with the words "M. Rogerij Belgiae inuentum". Cock's engraving is the earliest record of Rogier's name in association with the ''Deposition''. In 1953 art historian Otto Von Simson claimed that "no other painting of its school has been copied or adapted so often". In a 2010 episode of the BBC documentary series ''
The Private Life of a Masterpiece ''The Private Life of a Masterpiece'' is a BBC arts documentary series which tells the stories behind great works of art; 29 episodes of the series were broadcast on BBC Two, commencing on 8 December 2001 and ending on 25 December 2010. It initia ...
'' which examined the history and influence of ''The Descent From The Cross'', Professor
Susie Nash Susie Nash is the Deborah Loeb Brice Professor of Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute, London. After studying at the University of Reading (BA 1986, PhD 1993) she has been at the Courtauld. She is an expert on the art of the Northern Renais ...
of the Courtauld Institute of Art commented, "It seems that the innovation that van der Weyden made were so striking that other artists throughout Europe, almost could not get away from them. They are quoted again and again and again." Nash concluded, "I think there's a very, very strong case to be made that this is the most important painting of the whole period of the entire 15th century." In January 2009
Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
's collaborative project with the Prado made twelve of its masterpieces, including ''Descent from the Cross'', available at a resolution of 14,000 megapixels, some 1,400 times greater than a picture taken on a standard digital camera.


References


Citations


Sources

* Borchert, Till-Holger. ''Van Eych to Durer''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. * Campbell, Lorne. ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings''. National Gallery, 1998. * Campbell, Lorne. ''Van der Weyden''. London: Chaucer Press, 2004. * Campbell, Lorne & Van der Stock, Jan, ''Rogier van der Weyden: 1400-1464. Master of Passions''. Leuven: Davidsfonds, 2009. . * Clark, Kenneth. ''Looking at Pictures''. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1960 * De Vos, Dirk. ''Rogier Van Der Weyden: The Complete Works''. Harry N. Abrams, 1999. * Lane, Barbara. ''The altar and the altarpiece: sacramental themes in early Netherlandish painting''. Harper & Row, 1984. * Panofsky, Erwin. ''Early Netherlandish painting: Its Origins and Character''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953. * Powell, Amy. "The Errant Image: Rogier van der Weyden's Deposition from the Cross and its Copies". ''Art History'', Vol. 29, No. 4. 540–552 * Rubin, Miri. ''Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary'', Allen Lane, 2009, * von Simson, Otto G., " Compassio and Co-redemption in Roger van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross". '' The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 35, No. 1, March, 1953. 9–16. * Snyder, James, ''Northern Renaissance Art; Painting, Sculpture, The Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575''. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Descent From The Cross 1430s paintings
Weyden Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...
Paintings of the Museo del Prado by Flemish artists Paintings in the collection of El Escorial Paintings by Rogier van der Weyden Paintings of the Virgin Mary Paintings depicting Mary Magdalene Altarpieces Skulls in art