The Descent from the Cross
c. 1435 · Oil on oak panel · Museo del Prado, Madrid
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About this work
- Artist
- Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1390–1464)
- Year
- c. 1435
- Medium
- Oil on oak panel
- Original size
- 204.5 × 261.5 cm
- Collection
- Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
In a shallow gilded box like a carved altarpiece shrine, ten near life-size figures crowd around the body of Christ as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus lower it from the cross; the Virgin, in blue, has collapsed in a faint that echoes the curve of her son's body, while Mary Magdalene wrings her hands at the right and John the Evangelist bends to support the Virgin. Rogier van der Weyden painted it in about 1435, early in his career, for the chapel of Our Lady Without the Walls in Leuven, commissioned by the Greater Guild of Crossbowmen; tiny crossbows in the tracery of the corners refer to them, and Christ's arched body has been compared to the shape of a crossbow. Around 1548 Mary of Hungary, regent of the Netherlands, acquired it in exchange for a copy by Michiel Coxcie and an organ. Her nephew Philip II took it to Spain, and it was in the Escorial by 1574. Evacuated during the Spanish Civil War and shown in Geneva in 1939, it has since hung in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Ten grieving figures in red, blue and gold brocade lowering Christ in a shallow golden shrine, for a hallway, study or living room at 24×36 in black. A charcoal, deep red or warm stone wall; it pairs with The Descent from the Cross (central panel).
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (c. 1435)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, study or library, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Descent from the Cross in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Descent from the Cross painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
