ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
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| Grünewald, Matthias German, c. 1475/1480 - 1528 The Small Crucifixion c. 1511/1520 oil on panel overall: 61.3 x 46 cm (24 1/8 x 18 1/8 in.) framed: 74.4 x 59 x 2.5 cm (29 5/16 x 23 1/4 x 1 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection1961.9.19 On View |
WASHINGTON, DC---Today, only 20 paintings by
Matthias Grünewald are extant, and
The Small Crucifixion at the National Gallery of Art is the only one in the United States. Grünewald's
The Small Crucifixion is a masterful example of the artist's ability to translate his deep spiritual faith into pictorial form. Each individual, according to Grünewald, must reexperience within himself not only the boundless joy of Christ's triumphs but also the searing pains of his crucifixion. In order to communicate this mystical belief, Grünewald resorted to a mixture of ghastly realism and coloristic expressiveness. Silhouetted against a greenish–blue sky and illuminated by an undefined light source, Christ's emaciated frame sags limply on the cross. [
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