The crucifixion

Jan Baegert painted this Crucifixion around 1505 in Wesel on the Lower Rhine. Baegert was the son of the more famous Derick Baegert and continued the family workshop tradition. His Crucifixion scenes reflect the Lower Rhenish tradition of vivid coloring and expressive figure painting. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

Oil on panel with vivid Lower Rhenish coloring and dramatic staging of the Crucifixion. The mourning figures and the animated soldiers create a dynamic composition characteristic of the Baegert workshop.