Calvary

Jan Brueghel’s Calvary probably came to Florence in 1608 as a wedding gift from Maria Anna of Bavaria to her daughter Maria Maddalena, the bride of Cosimo II de’ Medici. Along with another panel depicting Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem, it formed a diptych intended for the Grand Dukes’ private devotion.

In all likelihood, before this second panel arrived in Florence, a large, monochrome drawing done by Albrecht Dürer in 1505 was glued to its back, and Brueghel adhered faithfully to it in his own work, as the signature in the left corner states: “AD INVENTOR 1505 / BRVEGHEL FECIT 1604.” Thus assembled, the two works are conserved today in the Uffizi Galleries’ Department of Prints and Drawings.

When Albrecht Dürer arrived in the Netherlands in 1520, he brought numerous other works with him. Included among them was this drawing, which was destined to have considerable influence over Flemish art, stimulating the work of numerous artists who, for more than a century, copied or were freely inspired by the German master’s composition.

The scene’s narrative and dramatic climax is Christ crucified between the two thieves at Jerusalem’s city gates, while some of the main episodes of the Passion unfold almost frenetically in the foreground and background.

Following the chronological order of events, we see Christ at the bottom left, seated as he awaits the cross, as some quarrelsome soldiers roll dice for his garments. At the right, the episode of the flagellation unfolds, while the skull beside the dog devouring a bone is a reference to the tradition according to which the wood for the cross came from the tree growing on Adam’s grave. The mountain where Jesus was crucified – Golgotha, which means “place of the skull” in Aramaic – was in fact the burial place of the first man – the man responsible for the original sin redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ.

The action then shifts to the top, where an animated procession accompanies Christ to Calvary, while in the background, Jerusalem, inspired by contemporary Nordic cities, dominates a landscape with dramatic features.

As Jesus bends beneath the wood’s weight, among the figures surrounding him we can recognize Veronica handing him the veil that will be soaked in divine blood.

At the bottom, the Virgin, consumed by grief, is supported by John and by the other two Marys. At the left, the two thieves await their punishment, while the High Priest Annas delivers the holy lance with the sponge to a man bearing a bucket of vinegar: these are the “Arma Christi,” some of the instruments used for the Crucifixion. To the right of the Marys, Pontius Pilate on horseback gives the soldier the scroll to place at the top of the cross, identifying Christ as “King of the Jews.”

Lastly, the Crucifixion is depicted at the centre of the composition: Christ is nailed to the cross beside the impenitent thief, who appears already dead. Meanwhile, a group of men lifts up the thief who would redeem himself when he was on the verge of dying.

The three figures off on the left witnessing the scene are most likely to be identified with the disciples present in the Olive Grove on Holy Thursday: Peter, James, and John.

While the depiction of the Calvary is marked by episodes and characters in great numbers, its narrative prelude of Christ’s Arrival in Jerusalem, painted on the diptych’s other panel, shows a rarefied atmosphere. Nature and landscape take centre stage, characterized by certain elements that the more observant contemporary viewer would have recognized: the river city in the background in fact appears to include depictions of Prague’s Charles Bridge and Church of the Mother of God before Týn.