Calvary

Author: Unknown

Date: ca 1560

Material: Oil on chestnut

Dimensions (cm): H 162,5 x W 142

Provenance: Guimarães, Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo

Owner: Guimarães, Venerável Ordem Terceira de Nossa Senhora do Carmo

Inventory No.: MAS PD 14

 

This painting is organized around the figure of the crucified Christ and it follows the rules of symmetry: on both sides of Christ, the same number of angels, in identical positions, receiving the blood from his wounds, is depicted. Likewise, the distribution of the seven daggers and the way of depicting the rocky volumes in the background follow the same symmetry.

On Christ’s right side, one can see the Mater Dolorosa and on the other side, in a similar position, Saint John the Baptist. Virgin Mary is represented with her heart pierced with seven daggers, a representation known as the Virgin of Sorrows, an allusion to her pain and suffering for the death of her Son.

According to Dalila Rodrigues, these are not very creative compositional solutions and they even reveal a certain naivety, visible both in the anatomic inaccuracies of the flying angels as well as in the incongruence of the superimposition of the rocks and the tomb to the background. Thus, she points up the peripheral artistic character of the workshop that created this painting.

The Calvary is an episode of Christ’s life that is mentioned by all the evangelists and it is an artistically frequently explored theme.