The Crucifixion

By about 1515 Grünewald had arrived at a way of painting the Crucifixion that was entirely his own, and this small panel in Basel is one of the clearest examples. It stands barely 75 centimetres tall, a devotional picture small enough for a single person to pray before, close up. The sky behind the cross is almost black, and there is a reason for it. The Gospels say the sun failed at the ninth hour, as Christ died, and Grünewald took that line literally, dropping the whole scene into a heavy night. Against it the body glows pale and wasted, the head fallen, the fingers cramped in death. At the foot of the cross the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist stand close together, while Mary Magdalene kneels with her hands wrung tight. The panel is painted in mixed technique on limewood, and it carries the old Basel inventory number 269.