Dirk Bouts, 'Christ Crowned with Thorns', about 1470
About the work
Overview
Christ wears the rich cloak and the crown of thorns in which, according to the Gospels, he was dressed before he was crucified. But the wounds of the Passion (his torture and crucifixion) indicate that he has already died and been resurrected.
Bouts brings Jesus’s torments vividly to life, showing him close up and in agonising detail. Our eyes are drawn to the blue shadows of the thorns thrust deep into his forehead and those around the holes in his hands. His translucent tears mingle with the blood dripping down his face.
This graphic image might seem shocking now, but in the late fifteenth century images of the weeping and suffering Christ were very popular, and were produced in large numbers in the workshop of Bouts and his followers. Small devotional paintings like this were used to aid private prayer.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ Crowned with Thorns
- Artist
- Dirk Bouts
- Artist dates
- 1400? - 1475
- Date made
- about 1470
- Medium and support
- oil, originally on wood, transferred to canvas
- Dimensions
- 43.8 × 37.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Mrs Joseph H. Green, 1880
- Inventory number
- NG1083
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 21st-century Replica Frame
Provenance
The painting was by 1817 in the collection of Karl Aders (1780–1846), a German merchant living in London, and was auctioned with the rest of the Aders collection at Foster’s on 1 August 1835 (no. 100). Stated to have been sold to Dr Willis, it was bought in and reappeared at the Aders Trust sale at Christie’s on 26 April 1839 (no. 57), when it was sold to Green. This was the surgeon Joseph Henry Green (1791–1863), who lived at The Mount, Hadley, near Barnet, and the painting was no. 12 in a list of his pictures drawn up at some time after his death. His collection passed to his widow Anne Eliza (Hammond), who died in 1879. By her will of 21 December 1865 she bequeathed ‘all my pictures by Dutch or Flemish Artists’ to the National Gallery. Her bequest was received in 1880.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2016Blood & Tears. Albrecht Bouts and the Image of the PassionNational Museum of History and Art Luxembourg7 October 2016 - 12 February 2017Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum8 March 2017 - 11 June 2017
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2017Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-RaphaelitesThe National Gallery (London)2 October 2017 - 2 April 2018
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2019Making a Masterpiece: Bouts and Beyond, 1450-2020York Art Gallery11 October 2019 - 26 January 2020
Bibliography
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1817London, Dr Williams' Library: Diary of Henry Crabb Robinson, 10 November 1817
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1833J.D. Passavant, Kunstreise durch England und Belgien, Frankfurt am Main 1833
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1835A Catalogue of a Very Splendid Collection Dutch, Italian, Ancient German and Flemish Pictures for Sale by Private Contract, London, 1835
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1835E. Foster & Son, A Catalogue of the Very Rare Collection of Italian, Ancient German, Dutch and Flemish Pictures: The Property of Charles Aders, Esq., London, 1 August 1835
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1839Christie & Manson, A Catalogue of a Very Valuable and Highly Important Collection of Pictures Chiefly of the Early Flemish and German Schools, London, 26 April 1839
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1881National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: Foreign Schools, London 1881
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1908E. Durand-Gréville, 'Notes sur les primitifs néerlandais de la National Gallery', Gazette des beaux-arts, XXXIX/607, 1908, pp. 59-72
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1911National Gallery, An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1911
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1924M.J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, 14 vols, Berlin 1924
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1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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1953M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1956E. Panofsky, 'Jean Hey's "Ecce Homo": Speculations about Its Author, Its Donor and Its Iconography', Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, V, 1956, pp. 94-138
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1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
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1975D. Hollanders-Favart et al., 'Le dessin sous-jacent chez Albert Bouts', Arca Lovaniensis, Jaarboek 1975 Vrienden Stedelijk Museum, Leuven, 1975, pp. 41-55
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1980N. Goetghebeur and L. Kockaert, 'Le grand calvaire d'Albert Bouts au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles', Bulletin de l'Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique, XVIII, 1980, pp. 5-20
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1984S. Ringbom, Icon to Narrative, 2nd edn, Doornspijk 1984
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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1989National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1989 – October 1992', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 95-6
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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