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Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

National Gallery of Art

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    East building

    Must-Sees at the National Gallery

    Make the most of your visit

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    East building

    Must-Sees at the National Gallery

    Make the most of your visit

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

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  • Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
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    3. Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria
    Provenance

    Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria

    died 1651

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    Artwork

    Three pale-skinned people stand around a cross from which hangs the twisted and bloodied body of a nearly nude man set in a dark, rocky landscape in this vertical painting. The man on the cross wears a ring of spiky thorns on his head and a white loincloth encircles his waist. His white skin is tinted green and covered all over with short red gashes. His body hangs heavily from his hands, which are nailed to the cross so his arms make a shallow Y shape. His head hangs down, and his eyes and mouth are open. His feet coil around a nail near the base of the cross. A man wearing a crimson-red garment under a pale blue and pink robe stands to our right facing the cross. He has blond hair, white skin, red rings around his eyes, and his fingers are tightly interlaced and twisted in an exaggerated prayer. One woman stands to our left, wearing a teal-blue and brown robe that covers her bowed head. She gazes down beyond her clasped hands and her mouth is downturned. A second woman wearing an ash-purple garment over a raspberry-pink robe kneels at the cross to our left. She holds her hands up at her chest as she looks up at the person on the cross, her mouth open wide. Rocky outcroppings rise along either side of the painting in the landscape, and a house is seen at the center beyond the cross. A dark disk covers a small bright moon in the dark blue, nighttime sky.
    Matthias Grünewald, The Small Crucifixion, c. 1511/1520, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.19

    The Small Crucifixion

    The Small Crucifixion

    Matthias Grünewald · c. 1511/1520 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.19

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