Crucifixion of Christ with Mary and John

This large square canvas, almost three metres on each side, shows the crucifixion of Jesus with the Virgin Mary on one side and the apostle John on the other. The cross stands at the centre of the composition, and Christ's body is sharply outlined against the sky and an architectural landscape behind. At the foot of the cross lie fragments of human bones, a common reference to Golgotha in religious art, and high above appears the inscription of the condemnation, written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The Virgin's face is associated with Magdalena Rodríguez Valdés, the painter's second wife, which helps date the work to around 1649, the year Córdoba suffered a plague epidemic. The figure of John has been suggested as a possible self-portrait of Antonio del Castillo, though this remains a hypothesis. The painting once hung in the chapel of the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, seat of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, alongside other works on inquisitorial themes. After a period in military custody it reached the Museo de Bellas Artes de Córdoba. For the composition, the painter seems to have borrowed from two engravings by Johannes Sadeler I after designs by Martin de Vos, adopting the arrangement of the figures, the background landscape and details such as the stakes securing the cross.

Painter

Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra

Date

1649

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

278 × 278 cm

Museum

Museum of Fine Arts of Córdoba, Córdoba

Movement

Cordoba School of Painting

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Jesus Christ, Mary, John the Apostle, crucifixion of Jesus

Share:FacebookWhatsApp