Crucifixion

We do not know this painter's name. Art historians call him the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, after an altarpiece in Amsterdam of the Virgin among holy virgins, and they place him around 1500 in the Dutch city of Delft. Some believe he was a local painter and printmaker named Dirc Jansz, but it is not certain. His Crucifixion does something unusual with the scene. Christ on the cross is pushed to one side, and the middle of the panel is given over to the crowd below, the horsemen and soldiers packed close together. The eye meets that restless crowd first and only then climbs to the cross, off to the right.