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The Crucifixion

Circle of Jan Provoost Netherlandish
ca. 1495
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 537
This exquisite private devotional painting contrasts Mary’s joy at the Annunciation, shown in the background, with her sorrow at the Crucifixion, where she swoons in John’s arms. The darkened sky heightens the poignancy of the Passion scene. Scattered around the cross are bones, referring to the belief that Adam’s skull was located on Golgotha. The pairing of the Annunciation and the Crucifixion accords with the medieval tradition that dedicated March 25th to the memory of Adam, the Annunciation, and Christ’s death, thus relating the Fall of Man, the conception of Christ, and the redemption of mankind offered by his death.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Crucifixion
  • Artist: Circle of Jan Provoost (Netherlandish (active Bruges))
  • Date: ca. 1495
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: Overall 13 1/8 x 10 3/4 in. (33.3 x 27.3 cm); painted surface 12 5/8 x 10 1/4 in. (32.1 x 26 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.60.21
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross, Master of Rimini, Alabaster, South Netherlandish
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Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456), Hans Memling Netherlandish, Oil on oak
Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456)
Hans Memling
ca. 1470
Booklet with Scenes of the Passion, Elephant ivory, polychromy, and gilding, North French (carving); Upper Rhenish (painting)
Booklet with Scenes of the Passion
North French (carving); Upper Rhenish (painting)
ca. 1300 (carving); ca. 1310–20 (painting)
Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense), Steel, gold, leather, Dutch
Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense)
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Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, Albrecht Dürer German, Oil on linden
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