Crucifixion Retable

Jacques de Baerze, a Netherlandish sculptor working for the Burgundian court, created the carved wooden framework of this Crucifixion Retable around 1390 for the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery founded by Philip the Bold near Dijon. The painted wings were executed by Melchior Broederlam, making this one of the great collaborative masterpieces of Northern European Gothic art. The retable embodies the lavish artistic patronage of the Burgundian dukes at the height of their power.

The retable combines carved and gilded wood sculpture in the central corpus with painted tempera panels on the folding wings. The painted elements display the refined technique of the Franco-Flemish International Gothic, with jewel-like colors, soft atmospheric landscapes on the exterior wings, and abundant gold leaf throughout.