Unknown author

CRUCIFIED

18th centuries
Oil on canvas, 62.5x35 cm. Framed, gilt frame. Iconographic representation of the crucified Christ in a darkened landscape with silhouettes of a city in the background corresponds to a verse of the New Testament: Matthew 27:45-54. This depiction can be found as early as the 15th century in book illuminations, and has been spread throughout Western culture by the visual arts for centuries. It was particularly popular with artists in the 17th century, a time when light and shadow in all dramatic settings were the most accentuated means of visually expressing tension, but also all other psychological states (from still life to martyrdom scenes from the lives of the saints). The theme of this painting is thus found in Rubens and Rembrandt as well as in El Greco and Murillo. It was so popular in the German milieu that it became humanised and can be found as a motif on painted furniture or on underpaintings on glass.