Calvary with a Carthusian Monk (1389–95): Art, History and Details

Calvary with a Carthusian Monk (1389–95) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean de Beaumetz (French, c. 1335–1396).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Jean de Beaumetz became the official court painter to the Burgundian duke, Philip the Bold, in 1376. Between 1389 and 1395 he created devotional paintings for the monks’ cells at the Chartreuse de Champmol, the monastery founded by Philip and his wife Margaret to house the ducal tombs. This panel, originally one of 26, is only one of two that have survived; the second is preserved in the Louvre in Paris. The Carthusians were intensely devoted to the Passion of Christ; particularly bloody images of the Crucifixion often decorated their cells. Isolated from one another, the monks contemplated the sacrifice of Christ (emphasized here by the presence of a Carthusian monk at the foot of the cross) creating an empathetic connection with the suffering of the Virgin who faints in the arms of the two Marys. Saint John the Evangelist, on the right, bows his head in sorrow. The punched decoration in the gold background represents the Trees of Life and Knowledge, emphasizing the biblical connection between Adam and Christ.

Object facts

• Title: Calvary with a Carthusian Monk
• Date: 1389–95
• Creator attribution: Jean de Beaumetz (French, c. 1335–1396)
• Culture: France
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on oak panel
• Dimensions: Framed: 63.5 x 52.5 x 6.7 cm (25 x 20 11/16 x 2 5/8 in.); Unframed: 56.6 x 45.7 cm (22 5/16 x 18 in.)
• Collection: MED - Medieval Art
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1964.454

A detail from the museum

Records exist detailing the delivery of the this panel and 25 others to the monastery Chartreuse de Champmol, for use in the monks' cells.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dehaisnes, Chrétien. Documents et extraits divers concernant l'histoire de l'art dans la Flandre, l'Artois et le Hainaut avant le XVe siècle. 1. 627-1373. - 1886. - XXIII, 520 S. 1. 627-1373. - 1886. - XXIII, 520 S. Lille: Danel, 1886.
• Prost, Bernard, and Henri Prost. Inventaires mobiliers et extraits des Comptes des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de Valois: (1363-1477). Tome Ier, Tome Ier. Paris: E. Leroux, 1902.
• Sterling, Charles, "Oeuvres retrouvées de Jean de Beaumetz peintre de Philippe le Hardi," Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts Bulletin IV (Brussels, 1955).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.