The Crucifixion

Pedro Orrente

ca. 1625–30 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Orrente traveled to Venice and Rome before working in Toledo, where he knew El Greco. The younger artist adopted El Greco’s high-pitched palette and penchant for exaggerated forms, but he combined them with a naturalism learned from paintings inspired by Caravaggio. Here, he filled a frequently depicted crucifixion subject with a series of anecdotal details.The dynamic but elegant figure on a ladder, for example, responds to Christ’s cry of thirst by using a cane to retrieve from a bystander a wet sponge that he will then hold to Christ’s lips.

Artist

Pedro Orrente

Date

ca. 1625–30

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Purchase, Charles and Jessie Price and Fern and George Wachter Gifts, 2014