All works in Early Netherlandish Paintings

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen

The Crucifixion

Amsterdam, c. 1507 - c. 1510

Object data

oil on panel

support: height 105 cm × width 88.4 cm
height 105 cm × width 86.5 cm

Inscriptions

inscription, bottom right on the border of Saint Veronica's robe: SALVE SANCT[A] FACIES NOS[TRI] REDEMTOR

Technical notes

The original support (105 x 86.8 cm) is composed of four vertically grained oak planks (15.4, 17.3, 27.5 and 25.8 cm), 1.5-2.0 cm thick. The planks are butt-joined. Two strips of wood approx 0.8 cm wide were later added to both sides. There are gouge and cleaving marks on the reverse of the panel. Four butterflies joining the planks were also added later. Dendrochronology has shown that planks I and II of the support came from the same tree, and that planks III and IV both came from another tree. The youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1486. The panel could have been ready for use by 1497, but a date in or after 1511 is more likely. The white ground, which is visible through the paint layers and at the edges of the composition, and the paint layers were applied up to the edges. There are no remnants of a barbe present. The underdrawing is visible to the naked eye, for example in the hands of the Virgin and the Magdalen, and in the manes of the foremost horse. Infrared photography and infrared reflectography revealed an elaborate underdrawing, probably made in two different media. One can be detected with infrared reflectography and appears to be done in a dry medium (fig. b). The other type becomes partially transparent in infrared reflectography but is visible with the naked eye and might be identified as a brown liquid medium. The underdrawing consists of extremely fine contour lines and hatchings. Most of the figures were left in reserve. The painting technique is precise and linear. The artist made use of dark brown contour lines for his figures and painted hatchings for shading. Golden decorations were suggested by a combination of highlights in yellow as well as gold.

Scientific examination and reports

dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 11 June 2004
condition report: M. van de Laar, RMA, 15 March 2006
infrared reflectography: M. Wolters / M. Leeflang [2], RKD/RMA, no. RKDG381, 12 April 2006

Condition

Good. There are a few discoloured retouchings along the joins, and the varnish is severely discoloured.

Conservation

J.A. Hesterman, 1901: complete restoration
H.H. Mertens, 1966
H.H. Mertens, 1966

Provenance

…; ? collection Andreas J.L. Baron van den Bogaerde van Terbrugge (1787-1855), Kasteel Heeswijk, near ’s-Hertogenbosch; his sons, Louis M.C. (1826-74) and D.T. Albéric (1829-95), Kasteel Heeswijk; their sale, ’s-Hertogenbosch (Van der Does de Willebois et al.), 24 September 1901 sqq., no. 1, fl. 7,700, to the museum, with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt¹

Object number: SK-A-1967

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

The artist

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (Oostzaan c. 1472/77 - Amsterdam 1528/33)

Van Mander states that Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen was born in Oostzaan, a small village north of Amsterdam, and that he was already an experienced painter with teenage children when Jan van Scorel entered his workshop around 1512. Going by Van Mander’s information that Jacob’s son Dirck died in 1567 at around 70 years of age, meaning that he was born c. 1497, it is assumed that Jacob was born between 1472 and 1477. There is no information about his parents, nor when he moved to Amsterdam or by whom he was trained. Nor is it known when Jacob married his wife Anna. They had four children, at least two of whom were trained by their father: Cornelis Jacobsz, about whom there is no further information, and Dirck Jacobsz, who was best known as a portrait painter. Also according to Van Mander, Jacob Cornelisz’s brother was Cornelis Buys I, who was active as a painter in Alkmaar. The earliest mention of Jacob Cornelisz in Amsterdam is an archival document from 1500 that shows that he bought a house in the Kalverstraat. Since his wife is recorded as a widow on 18 October 1533, and his second house was sold in his absence in the autumn of 1532, it is accepted that he died before the first date, and possibly before the second. In 1526, 1527 and 1528, Egmond Abbey paid him for work on a large retable, so his date of death can be placed somewhere between 1528 and 1533.

Several of the paintings and the bulk of the drawings by Jacob Cornelisz bear his initials I (for Iacob) and A (referring to the city where he worked) and his monogram, which consists of a V and an upside-down W, the latter probably an allusion to the surname War or Warre that he sometimes used.

Most of the 200-odd woodcuts after designs by Jacob Cornelisz are dated between 1507 and 1522, making it easy to follow his development. Only 6 of the 30 or so paintings attributed to him have the monogram, but a good number are dated. The earliest ones with dates are two of 1507 that are attributed to him: the Noli me tangere in Kassel,² and The Crucifixion in a private collection.³ His last known, securely attributed painting dates from 1526 (SK-A-668).

In addition to paintings on canvas and panel and woodcuts there are designs for stained-glass windows and copes, and ceiling paintings. Jacob’s painted oeuvre mostly consists of religious works: large altarpieces, smaller panels for private devotion, and several which appear to have been made for the open market. There are also a few autonomous portraits that are attributed to him. Jacob’s earliest works are craftsman-like and executed in a very laborious technique, looking more as if they were drawn with paint than painted. The choice of subject is traditional. It was only in his later work, undoubtedly influenced by Jan van Scorel, that he transcended the craftsman-like in technique, style and iconography. His large output indicates that he had a sizable workshop with several assistants, including Jan van Scorel and his sons Cornelis Jacobsz and Dirck Jacobsz, and possibly his grandsons Cornelis Anthonisz and Jacob Dirksz as well.

References
Van Mander 1604, fol. 207r-v; Brulliot I, 1832, no. 19; Cohen in Thieme/Becker VII, 1912, pp. 428-30; Steinbart 1922, pp. 2-8; Steinbart 1929, pp. 1-48; Friedländer XII, 1935, pp. 96-111; Steinbart 1937; Hoogewerff III, 1939, pp. 72-143; Bruyn 1966, pp. 149, 160, 161; ENP XII, 1975, pp. 53-64; Van Eeghen 1986, pp. 95-132; Carroll 1987; Miedema II, 1995, pp. 284-93; Carroll in Turner 1996, VII, pp. 868-70; Beaujean in Saur XXI, 1999, pp. 235-38; Meuwissen 2006, pp. 55-81

(Daantje Meuwissen)

Entry

Christ on the cross is the central motif in this crowded panel of the scene on Mount Calvary. The blood from the wounds in the hands and feet is being caught in chalices held by four angels. Standing to the left of the cross are the Virgin and St John the Evangelist. Immediately behind the Virgin are Mary Cleophas and Mary Salome, while kneeling at the foot of the cross is Mary Magdalen, dressed in an ornate gown. The figure in the right foreground is St Veronica with the sudarium. The background is filled with various scenes from Christ’s Passion, with the carrying of the cross on the right. St Veronica is seen there too, but this time the cloth does not bear the imprint of Christ’s face. There are no other known instances of a Crucifixion in which she occupies such an important position, which might suggest that this painting was placed on or near an altar dedicated to her.

The panel can be associated with a group of eight paintings of the same subject attributable to Jacob Cornelisz and his workshop. The others, though, have fewer secondary scenes or none at all, as in The Crucifixion dated 1507 in a private collection in New York fig. a.⁴ The Rijksmuseum panel is neither signed nor dated, but is nevertheless rightly regarded as the autograph prototype.⁵

The painting displays the detailed and elaborate technique that is so typical of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen. The various parts are modelled with parallel strokes of paint, which were also used to suggest the effect of shadows. In addition, it has the dark lines along the contours found in many other works by the artist, which are strikingly analogous to his woodcuts.⁶ Although Carroll was unable to make out any underdrawing, infrared reflectography has partially revealed one.⁷ Where it is legible it displays clear similarities to the underdrawing of The Crucifixion of 1507 in New York. Two materials were used for it, one of which can only be seen with the naked eye, becoming transparent in the infrared. The use of an underdrawing medium that is transparent (or partly so) when viewed in infrared light is found in other works by Jacob Cornelisz, such as his All Saints triptych.⁸ Most of the contours in that work show up in the infrared reflectograms, while the hatchings between them are transparent.⁹ The same seems to be the case with the Rijksmuseum’s Crucifixion. As in the underdrawing of the 1507 Crucifixion, there are cross-hatchings which resemble surgical stitching, such as those used in St John’s sleeve (fig. b, fig. c). Many similar “zip fastenings” were used in Cornelisz’s woodcut series of The Life of the Virgin, which is signed and dated 1507.¹⁰

Opinions differ on the dating of this painting. Some authors place it in the period 1510-17,¹¹ but Valentiner believed that it was painted shortly after 1500.¹² Given the similarities to the New York Crucifixion and The life of the Virgin series noted above, both of which date from 1507, the most plausible date is c. 1507-10.

(Daantje Meuwissen/Micha Leeflang)

Literature

Friedländer XII, 1935, pp. 110, 195, no. 264; Hoogewerff III, 1939, pp. 89-92; ENP XII, 1975, pp. 59, 116-17, no. 264; Carroll 1987, pp. 174-87, no. 12, with earlier literature; Botke/Nijsingh 2003, p. 14; Meuwissen 2006, p. 58

Download Bibliography (PDF)

Collection catalogues

1903, p. 76, no. 723; 1934, p. 74, no. 723; 1960, p. 76, no. 723; 1976, p. 177, no. A 1967 (as attributed to Jacob Cornelisz)

Citation

D. Meuwissen, 2010, 'Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen, The Crucifixion, Amsterdam, c. 1507 - c. 1510', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8173

(accessed 22 November 2024 02:05:55).

Figures

fig. b Detail of the infrared reflectogram assembly of SK-A-1967, showing St John’s sleeve (© Stichting RKD)

fig. a Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, 'The Crucifixion', 1507. Oil on panel, 99.1 x 78 cm. New York, private collection

fig. c Detail of the infrared reflectogram assembly of the New York painting (fig. a), showing St John’s sleeve (© Stichting RKD)