Descent from the Cross (Rogier van der Weyden)
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| Descent from the Cross |
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| Rogier van der Weyden , 1435 to 1440 |
| Oil on wood |
| 220 × 262 cm |
| Madrid , Prado Museum |
The Descent from the Cross is one of the main works by the painter Rogier van der Weyden . It was created around 1435 to 1440 as the middle part of a triptych . The painting is not signed. Only later authors attributed this triptych to Rogier van der Weyden.
The image is 262 centimeters wide and up to 220 centimeters high. It is executed in oil on wood.
Motif
The painting shows a typical topos of occidental painting. Christ died on the cross and is now removed from the cross. All the Gospels tell of Joseph of Arimathea asking Pontius Pilate to bury the body of Christ. Christ's Descent from the Cross is only briefly mentioned in the Gospels. However, the visual arts have repeatedly depicted this motif in detail. Early representations can already be found in early medieval panel painting . Typical are depictions in which the nails have already been removed from the corpse and Christ descends from the cross into the arms of Joseph of Arimathea, who is catching him. In addition to simple three-figure compositions in which Christ, Joseph of Arimathäa and Nicodemus are shown, this representation has been expanded to include so-called assistance figures since the 11th century. This included on the one hand Mary and the apostle John.
The arrangement of the figures and the posture of Jesus can be found in a similar way on Roman sarcophagi. On these the carrying home of the dead hunter Meleager is shown. The motif can also be found on children's sarcophagi, with the adults being replaced by erotes.
Image objects
Rogier's figures operate in a flat box room with a gold background. As described in the Gospels, the body of Christ is laid on a white sheet. Joseph of Arimathea embraces him. On the right edge of the picture you can see Mary Magdalene , mourning the death of Christ with folded hands and a bowed figure. Her body movement is repeated in a red-clad figure on the left edge of the picture, which represents the disciple John. He leans forward to catch Maria sinking to the ground . Mary's arm position is repeated in the arm position of the dead Christ. In the arms of Christ and Mary, the basic directions of the table are immediately clear.
Ownership history
The triptych, the middle part of which was Rogier's Descent from the Cross, was commissioned by the Great Crossbowmen's Guild in Leuven for the Church of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Ginderbuiten . It must have been famous as soon as it was completed, because the Edelheere family from Löwen had a reduced replica of the middle section made by an unknown painter and expanded into a triptych of their own, which was installed in their chapel in the Sint-Pieters Church in 1443. This replica is now in the Stedelijk Museum, Leuven.
In the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Ginderbuiten church in Löwen , the Descent from the Cross was a little over 100 years. The art-collecting Maria of Hungary exchanged it for an organ worth 1,500 florins and a replica created by the court painter Michiel Coxcie . This copy is in the Bode Museum . As evidenced by written evidence from Vicente Álvarez from 1551, it was placed in the chapel of the newly built Binche Castle , where Mary of Hungary had her residence. During a tour of the Netherlands, the Spanish Crown Prince Philip, who later became Philip II , saw it there and bought it from his aunt in order to take it to Spain in 1555 . From later instructions to the Spanish court painters on the occasion of a restoration of the painting, we know that Philip II was apparently particularly affected by the painful facial expressions of the figures. At that time he ordered that they were only allowed to restore the garments and the background.
There is evidence that the painting had been in the chapel of the royal hunting lodge El Pardo near Madrid for some time in 1566 . 1567 commissioned Philip II Coxcie again with the creation of a replica. This was to remain in the Pardo, while the original was to adorn the recently completed El Escorial monastery church . During the Spanish Civil War in the 20th century, the painting was in Geneva . When it came back in 1939, it was added to the Prado's collection, where it is still today. The last restoration was carried out in 1992 and 1993.
Later Campin or earlier Rogier?
While most art historians, including Dirk de Vos, assume the Descent from the Cross as a work by Rogier, the Konstanz art historian Felix Thürlemann takes the view that it is a late work by Robert Campin . He makes two important arguments: 1. After this compositional masterpiece, Rogier's ability to arrange groups of people falls again significantly. An example of this is The Last Judgment (Rogier van der Weyden) . 2. Rogier never again uses a parallel arrangement of figures. B. the same posture between Jesus and Mary.
literature
- Johann David Passavant : The painters Roger van der Weyden and some notes about Goswin and Peter van der Weyden In: Journal for Christian Archeology and Art Volume 2, 1858, pp. 120, 125 (digitized)
- Felix Thürlemann : The Madrid Descent from the Cross and the Paris Entombment. The main pictorial and graphic work of Robert Campins . In: Pantheon 51, 1993, pp. 18-45.
- Dirk de Vos: Rogier van der Weyden. The complete work . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7774-8330-3 (original edition: Het volledige Oeuvre, Mercatorfonds Antwerpen 1999, ISBN 90-6153-427-5 ).
- Dirk de Vos: Flemish Masters; Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling , Du Mont Literatur und Kunst Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7201-7
- Felix Thürlemann: Rogier van der Weyden. Life and Work , CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-53592-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Felix Thürlemann: The Descent from the Cross and the Entombment in Paris: the main pictorial and graphic work of Robert Campins . In: Pantheon 51, 1993, pp. 18-45.
- ^ Paul Zanker , Björn Christian Ewald : Living with pictures. The imagery of the Roman sarcophagi . Hirmer, Munich 2004, p. 74.
- ^ Felix Thürlemann: Rogier van der Weyden life and work . CH Beck, Munich 2006, p.?.
- ↑ Felix Thürlemann: Robert Campin ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
