4. Early Netherlandish painting (15-16th c.)

The work depicts an episode from the Passion of Christ that is not narrated in the Gospels. The subject “Christ on the Cold Stone” was mainly represented in 15th-century Netherlandish art, especially in sculpture. Jesus is shown at the moment preceding the Crucifixion, stripped of his clothes and with his hands bound. He is sitting on an enormous carved stone block; in front of him, the instruments of the Passion (arma Christi) can be seen. He seems to be meditating about his approaching death, inviting also the viewer to meditation. When this work was painted, this episode could be read in late medieval narrations of the Passion. In the background, the two preceding events appear: the often depicted scene of the carrying of the cross, and a rare apocryphal scene showing Christ being stripped of his clothes. The work was earlier believed to be German; the restoration, however, revealed the light-filled colour scheme, the atmosphere of the airy landscape, and the rustic peasant figures characteristic of early Netherlandish painting. Christ’s face reveals some likeness to the art of Dirk Bouts, who migrated to Leuven from the Northern Netherlands.