The Crucifixion

Gerard David

ca. 1495 · Oil on wood · European Paintings

In this depiction of Christ’s Crucifixion, the Church Father Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, appears to visualize the scene based on his reading of scripture. True to the account of the Gospels, David has provided an appropriate sense of time and space. The sky is darkened at the moment of Christ’s death on Golgotha (literally, “the place of the skull”), and the holy city of Jerusalem with its prominent Church of the Holy Sepulcher forms the backdrop.

Artist

Gerard David

Date

ca. 1495

Medium

Oil on wood

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1909