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The Crucifixion
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
about 1610-12
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
106.7 x 76.2 cm (42 x 30 in.)
Credit Line
Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession NumberL-R 68.2018
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Conventional representations of the Crucifixion typically highlight Jesus’s suffering by showing his emaciated body hanging limply with his head lowered and his eyes downcast. In this remarkable image, Rubens radically departs from this established tradition. Rather than showing a tortured martyr, he portrays the figure as triumphant and heroic. Jesus raises his eyes trustingly toward the heavens; his body, derived from classical models and brilliantly lit, is muscular, youthful, and robust. With this uplifting vision of Jesus’s last moments, Rubens emphasizes his divinity and shows the faithful that his sacrifice is the path to their salvation.
ProvenanceCardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (b. 1690 – d. 1756), Rome; to his nephew Cardinal Luigi Valenti Gonzaga (b. 1725 – d. 1808), Rome; May 18, 1763, Cardinal Valenti sale, Hendrik de Leth, Amsterdam, lot 14. By 1768, Gottfried Winkler (b. 1731 – d. 1795), Leipzig [see note 1]. By 1802, Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, 9th Baronet (b. 1764 - d. 1832), Oak Hill, Hertfordshire, and George Hibbert (b. 1757 – d. 1837), London [see note 2]; May 14, 1802, Clarke and Hibbert sale, Christie's, London, lot 68, bought in [see note 3]; May 8-9, 1840, Clarke sale, Christie's, London, lot 88, sold to Mr. Woodin [see note 4]. Mrs. Holloway [see note 5]. A. L. Nicholson, London [see note 6]. Ascher & Welcker (dealer), London [see note 7]. By 1923, José Vigeveno (b. 1891 - d. 1943), Amsterdam [see note 8]; October 23, 1942, forcibly sold to Hans Posse for the Führermuseum, Linz (no. 3242; photo album no. XXVII/19) [see note 9]; taken to Alt Aussee (no. 3108) [see note 10]; July 15, 1945, recovered by Allied forces and taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP no. 4459) [see note 11]; July 8, 1946, shipped to Amsterdam for return to the Vigeveno family; by descent within the family to Arnold Leo Gabriel Vigeveno (b. 1924 – d. 1984), San Luis Obispo; July 7, 1976, Vigeveno and others sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 104, sold to a private collector, Madrid. By 1977, Mercedes Royo-Villanova de Alvarez, Madrid [see note 12]. 2012, sold by Bernheimer-Colnaghi, London, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA.
NOTES:
[1] According to Historische Erklaerungen der Gemaelde welche Herr Gottfried Winkler in Leipzig gesammelt (Leipzig, 1768), cat. no. 508.
[2] Collectors Sir Simon Clarke and George Hibbert often handled transactions as a partnership, but maintained separate art collections. It is not always clear which pictures belonged to which owner.
[3] According to the Getty Provenance Index online (catalogue Br-111), an annotation in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s copy of the catalogue indicates that the painting was seen in Clarke’s collection in 1804.
[4] Sold as van Dyck, from the collections of M. Robit and G. Hibbert. The Getty Provenance Index (catalogue Br-5138) notes it was sold to Woodin. John Smith, in Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters (London, 1842), vol. 9, no. 391, also notes the painting was sold from the Clarke collection and bought by Mr. Woodin.
[5] According to 1976 Sotheby's catalogue.
[6] According to J. Richard Judson, Rubens: The Passion of Christ (Turnhout, 2000), pp. 127-28.
[7] According to Frederik J. Duparc in Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 90.
[8] According to Birgit Schwarz, Hitler’s Museum. Die Fotoalben Gemälde Linz: Dokumente zum “Führermuseum” (Vienna, 2004), p. 171, cat. XXVII/19. José Vigeveno was a Jewish entrepreneur and the nephew of dealer Jacques Goudstikker. He helped run the Goudstikker gallery until 1923. He later worked as the Consul General for Nicaragua in Amsterdam. In or after 1939, José Vigeveno was sent to the Westerbork transport camp, where he died from a heart attack in 1943.
[9] Hans Posse was the head of Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum project, the art museum Hitler planned to build in Linz, Austria.
[10] Many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, where they would be safe from wartime bombing.
[11] Allied troops established collecting points where looted works of art could be identified for eventual restitution to their rightful owners. This painting came to the Munich Central Collecting Point from Alt Aussee (no. 3108), and was numbered 4459. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, MD, Microfilm Publication M1943, Reel 175, Property Card 4459.
[12] According to the RKD Online and Duparc 2020 (see above, note 7), p. 90.
NOTES:
[1] According to Historische Erklaerungen der Gemaelde welche Herr Gottfried Winkler in Leipzig gesammelt (Leipzig, 1768), cat. no. 508.
[2] Collectors Sir Simon Clarke and George Hibbert often handled transactions as a partnership, but maintained separate art collections. It is not always clear which pictures belonged to which owner.
[3] According to the Getty Provenance Index online (catalogue Br-111), an annotation in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s copy of the catalogue indicates that the painting was seen in Clarke’s collection in 1804.
[4] Sold as van Dyck, from the collections of M. Robit and G. Hibbert. The Getty Provenance Index (catalogue Br-5138) notes it was sold to Woodin. John Smith, in Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters (London, 1842), vol. 9, no. 391, also notes the painting was sold from the Clarke collection and bought by Mr. Woodin.
[5] According to 1976 Sotheby's catalogue.
[6] According to J. Richard Judson, Rubens: The Passion of Christ (Turnhout, 2000), pp. 127-28.
[7] According to Frederik J. Duparc in Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 90.
[8] According to Birgit Schwarz, Hitler’s Museum. Die Fotoalben Gemälde Linz: Dokumente zum “Führermuseum” (Vienna, 2004), p. 171, cat. XXVII/19. José Vigeveno was a Jewish entrepreneur and the nephew of dealer Jacques Goudstikker. He helped run the Goudstikker gallery until 1923. He later worked as the Consul General for Nicaragua in Amsterdam. In or after 1939, José Vigeveno was sent to the Westerbork transport camp, where he died from a heart attack in 1943.
[9] Hans Posse was the head of Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum project, the art museum Hitler planned to build in Linz, Austria.
[10] Many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, where they would be safe from wartime bombing.
[11] Allied troops established collecting points where looted works of art could be identified for eventual restitution to their rightful owners. This painting came to the Munich Central Collecting Point from Alt Aussee (no. 3108), and was numbered 4459. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, MD, Microfilm Publication M1943, Reel 175, Property Card 4459.
[12] According to the RKD Online and Duparc 2020 (see above, note 7), p. 90.