Christ on the Cross, with Mary, John, Mary Magdalene and Sts Cecilia and Barbara (left) and Peter, Francis and Jerome (right), Cornelis Engebrechtsz, c. 1505 - c. 1510 – (Cornelis Engebrechtsz) ◄ Sebelumnya Berikutnya ►

Artist: Cornelis Engebrechtsz

tanggal: 1510

ukuran: 24 x 31 cm

Teknik: Oil On Panel

In addition to larger, many-figured scenes of the Crucifixion in late medieval Dutch and German painting, the smaller devotional works often have only the crucified Christ with the Virgin, St John and Mary Magdalen in a landscape, sometimes with a few saints, as here.5 The ones in this painting can be recognised from their attributes as St Cecilia with her falcon and sword, St Barbara with tower and peacock’s feather, St Peter with the keys and a book, St Francis in a friar’s habit displaying his stigmata, and St Jerome with a red cardinal’s hat, robe and a lion. The panel, which was first attributed to Engebrechtsz by Dülberg in 1899, is usually regarded as an early work from before 1500. However, distinctive features like the elongated, oval faces of the women, the beady black eyes and the bright palette can also be found in his Triptych with the Lamentation in Leiden, datable c. 1508.6 It is only logical that the small size of the panel and the simple composition led to the figures being squatter and the draperies less lively than in the larger works. The simplification of the figures probably indicates that this little panel was part of the stock output of small devotional works by Engebrechtsz and from his workshop. This suspicion is confirmed by the existence of similar compositions, such as a Crucifixion with Saints in a private American collection (fig. a).7 It is for that reason that the Amsterdam panel can be dated later than is assumed in the literature, to around 1505-10, when Engebrechtsz’s shop was operating at full capacity. The dendrochronology, which indicates that the panel was ready for use by 1493 at the earliest, but more probably by 1507, points in the same direction. This and four other paintings came from the Brigittine convent of Mariënwater in Koudewater, near ’s-Hertogenbosch.8 Going by the provenance, size and simple composition, this little picture was made for the private devotions of a nun. It is possible that there were contacts between the convent and the Mariënpoel nunnery near Leiden, which Engebrechtsz supplied with two altarpieces and probably several other devotional works as well.9 It could also have accompanied nuns from Leiden who sought refuge in the Brabant convent later in the 16th century. (Jan Piet Filedt Kok)