The Crucifixion

On 19 December 1509 the bishop of Palencia, Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, signed a contract for eleven paintings for the high altarpiece of his cathedral, and the document listed them in order, starting with this one. The painter was Juan de Flandes. He had been Isabella the Catholic's court painter until the queen died in 1504, and after that he had to find new work. Fonseca had been in the Netherlands on crown business and wanted Flemish painting, so the altarpiece that had been ordered as carving alone grew into a mixed one, wood and panels together. This panel was the central compartment of the banco, the lowest tier of the retable, so it stood close to the floor and a visitor could come right up to it. The soldier at the right holds a red banner and wears plate armour of the painter's own day, not anything Roman. The eleven panels are now scattered. This one stayed in Palencia until 1944, when the cathedral chapter sold it, and it reached the Prado in 2005.