Follower of Jan Mostaert, 'Christ crowned with Thorns', about 1520-30
About the work
Overview
The weeping Christ wears the crown of thorns; unusually, it still has some leaves on its stems. His hands are tied together with rope, but he holds a bundle of sticks in one and a long reed in the other. This picture is a simplified version of the figure of Christ crowned with thorns in the left wing of Jan Mostaert’s most famous painting, the so-called Oultremont Triptych (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels).
There are a number of versions of the National Gallery’s picture (Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, UK; Museo de Burgos, Spain; and elsewhere) with slight variations in the arrangement of Christ’s hands, head and clothing. The triptych (painting in three parts) is thought to have been painted between late 1513 and around 1520. The composition of our panel was probably created before that of the versions in Brighton and elsewhere, perhaps around 1520. When it was actually painted remains an open question.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ crowned with Thorns
- Artist
- Follower of Jan Mostaert
- Artist dates
- active 1498; died 1552/3
- Date made
- about 1520-30
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 30.5 × 20.9 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Henry Wagner, 1924
- Inventory number
- NG3900
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings: With French Paintings before 1600’, London 2014; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
-
1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2014
L. Campbell, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings: With French Paintings before 1600, 2 vols, London 2014
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.
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