Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John

Signed and dated at the foot of the cross, "HTB 16". This canvas of about 1625 was painted as an altarpiece, probably for a Catholic "hidden church." Until recently it was mistakenly assumed that ter Brugghen was Catholic, not Protestant, in part because he responded so sympathetically to commissions such as this one. The strikingly archaic qualities of the picture, such as the angular figure of Christ, the shallow space, and the starry sky, have reminded many viewers of late medieval woodcuts, prints by Durer, and Grunewald's Isenheim altarpiece (Colmar, France). It appears likely that the Mu... Mehr ...