DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70030#0375
CHRIST TAKEN FROM THE CROSS.
VANDYCK.
Christ, dead, is extended upon the knees of his
mother. The Virgin raises her eyes towards heaven, and
appears overwhelmed with grief* St. John holds the
hand of Christ, and discovers to an angel, whose body
is enveloped in clouds, the wounds occasioned by the
nails. This divine personage joins her hands in the
manner the most tender and compassionate, while
another, unable to witness the afflicting scene, conceals
her face by a black drapery.
Although Vandyck has painted several historical pic-
tures, superior to the one under review, we still perceive
many of the beauties by which the works of this great
painter are distinguished. The character of death is
well expressed by the livid countenance of Christ, and in
the sinking down of the muscles of the body. It might,
perhaps, have been desirable that the nudity of this figure
had been more correct, in point of drawing. The ex-
tended arms of the Virgin present, in some measure,
a theatrical effect: but Vandyck received his style from
Rubens, whose manner deviates, sometimes, from the
simplicity of the great masters of Italy and France.
The figures of the angel and St. John are well depicted,
and are not wanting in dignity.
The colouring of this picture has not all the delicacy
153
VANDYCK.
Christ, dead, is extended upon the knees of his
mother. The Virgin raises her eyes towards heaven, and
appears overwhelmed with grief* St. John holds the
hand of Christ, and discovers to an angel, whose body
is enveloped in clouds, the wounds occasioned by the
nails. This divine personage joins her hands in the
manner the most tender and compassionate, while
another, unable to witness the afflicting scene, conceals
her face by a black drapery.
Although Vandyck has painted several historical pic-
tures, superior to the one under review, we still perceive
many of the beauties by which the works of this great
painter are distinguished. The character of death is
well expressed by the livid countenance of Christ, and in
the sinking down of the muscles of the body. It might,
perhaps, have been desirable that the nudity of this figure
had been more correct, in point of drawing. The ex-
tended arms of the Virgin present, in some measure,
a theatrical effect: but Vandyck received his style from
Rubens, whose manner deviates, sometimes, from the
simplicity of the great masters of Italy and France.
The figures of the angel and St. John are well depicted,
and are not wanting in dignity.
The colouring of this picture has not all the delicacy
153