The Crucifixion

Christ hangs on the Cross, emaciated, blood dripping from the wounds in his hands, feet and side. His head is slumped in death, his face pale. His followers sit on the ground around him, inconsolable. Christ's mother, the Virgin Mary, has collapsed in her grief.

This panel once formed the pinnacle of a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) made for the small church of Saint Martin at Riglos, north-eastern Spain. Until recently the painting was attributed to the anonymous Master of Riglos, named after the altarpiece, but its style comes close to works by Pere García de Benavarri. García is thought to have trained with Blasco de Grañén (documented 1422-1459), the artist who painted the main panel of the Riglos altarpiece (today in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona).

Spanish polyptychs at this date often took the form of a large central panel, showing the saint to whom the church was dedicated, surrounded by smaller panels and topped with an image of the Crucifixion. They often had very elaborate gilded frames.

Credit: Bequeathed by Sir Ronald Storrs, 1964