The Crucifixion

Around 1508, a viewer standing before this panel in Amsterdam was expected to take time over it. Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen lays out the whole Passion on one hill seen from above, so the eye travels from episode to episode. Far back, Christ prays in the garden and says farewell to his mother. Closer in, he carries the cross toward the hill. At the centre he hangs dead, and four angels catch his blood in chalices. Mary, John and Mary Magdalene grieve below, the Magdalene kneeling in a heavy gold brocade. Across from her kneels Veronica, holding up the cloth that bears Christ's face. Along the hem of her robe run the opening words of a medieval prayer, Salve sancta facies, hail, holy face. The Rijksmuseum bought the panel in 1901, when the collection from Heeswijk Castle was sold.