Preparation for the Crucifixion (early 1600s): Art, History and Details

Preparation for the Crucifixion (early 1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Despite the religious subject, the scale and intricate detail indicate that this painting was not for a church setting. Instead, as an independent work of art, a collector would have admired its artistry and unusual combination of Italian and northern European traditions. Likewise, the subject’s novelty would have intrigued a sophisticated patron. Neither Christ’s disrobing before the Crucifixion nor the debate over the plaque identifying him as Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, are common subjects in the Renaissance. Who made this work remains a mystery. The copper surface, complex composition, and atmospheric landscape imply a painter from north of the Alps, as does Christ’s sinuous body. However, the drapery, rich colors, and figures at lower right stem from Venetian Renaissance art.

Object facts

• Title: Preparation for the Crucifixion
• Date: early 1600s
• Culture: Northern Italy, early 17th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on copper
• Dimensions: Framed: 73.5 x 63.5 x 6.4 cm (28 15/16 x 25 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 55 x 46.2 cm (21 5/8 x 18 3/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1916.816

Collection credit

Holden Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Boston Foreign Art Exhibition. Catalogue of the Art Department, Foreign Exhibition, Illustrated, Boston, Mass., 1883. Boston: Mills, Knight & Co, 1883.
• Jarves, James Jackson, and Liberty Emery Holden. Hand Book for Visitors to the Hollenden Gallery of Old Masters Exhibited at the Boston Foreign Art Exhibition in 1883-4. 1883. .
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.

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.