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Artist
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
Title
Christ on the Cross
Date
1660-70
Culture
Spanish
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
208.9 x 113 cm (82 ¼ x 44 ½ in.)
Accession Number
1955:004
Credit Line
Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, Christ on the Cross, 1660-70, oil on canvas, 208.9 x 113 cm (82 ¼ x 44 ½ in.), Putnam Foundation, Timken Museum of Art
Full view of Christ on the Cross
Description
In this late painting by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, the luminous figure of Christ appears against an ominous sky. Below him, at the left, the outlines of the city of Jerusalem are visible within the shadowy mists. According to Christian doctrine, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross brought about the possibility of man’s redemption from the original sin of Adam. The skull at the base of the cross suggests Golgotha, meaning “the place of the cross,” the area of Jerusalem where the crucifixion occurred. The inscription at the top of the cross reads, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” 

Related Information / Media

Provenance

Kaunitz collection, Vienna, ca. 1820-60; Count Czernin, Vienna; acquired by the Putnam Foundation, 1955

Exhibited

Sion, Switzerland, Musee de la Majorie, 1951, La Collection Czernin de Vienne, no. 27; Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, extended loan,1957-65.

Literature

Luis Alfonso, Murillo (Barcelona, 1866), p. 219, no.1; Carlo Justi, Murillo (Leipzig, 1904), p. 72; August L. Mayer, Murillo, Klassiker der Kunst (Stuttgart, 1913), p. 95, ill.; Karl Wilczek, Katalog der Graf Czernin’schen Gemäldegalerie in Wein (Vienna, 1936), p. 60, no. 48; Angus Mongan and Elizabeth Mongan, European Painting in the Timken Art Gallery (San Diego, 1969), pp. 86, 87, 128, no. 32, ill.; Diego Angulo Ïñiguez, Murillo, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1981), 2:226, no. 268, and 3: fig. 398; Timken Art Gallery: European and American Works of Art in the Putnam Foundation Collection (San Diego, 1938), pp. 66-67, 124, no. 24, ill.

Note

This record has been reviewed by Timken Museum of Art staff and may be incomplete or contain errors. Our records are constantly revised. Inquiries about provenance are advised to contact the Director of Curatorial Affairs: curator@timkenmuseum.org.