Skip to Main Content
Home>Collection>The Crucifixion

Provenance

Possibly a museum in Breslau (now Wroclaw).[1] (Charles de Burlet, Berlin, 1916); Dr. Otto Fröhlich, Vienna, 1916;[2] sold to Stefan Auspitz [1869-1945], Vienna, until 1931.[3] (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., New York, owned jointly with Pinakos, Inc. [Rudolf Heinemann], by 1951);[4] purchased 1951 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.

[1] Unverified. There are no records of the paintings having been in the Muzeum Narodowe, letter of 11 April 1989 from Mariusz Hermansdorfer to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files, or the Muzeum Archidiecezjalne, letter of 25 June 1989 from Józef Pater to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files.

[2] Memorandum of a communication from Lilly Fröhlich, London, 1956, in NGA curatorial files, which states that Otto Fröhlich acquired the paintings in 1916 from an unspecified museum in Breslau through de Burlet and sold them to Stefan von Auspitz.

[3]Stefan Auspitz was a Viennese banker who was forced by the Austrian financial crisis of 1931 to forfeit most of his collection to creditors of the Austrian government, by whom it was sold to the Dutch collector van Beuningen, who consigned the works for sale over a period of time through the Bachstitz gallery. This painting and its companion, 1952.5.85, do not appear to have been part of those transactions. Instead they were held as security at the firm of Fa. Bäume in Vienna.

[4] Letter of 13 April 1989 from Gerald G. Stiebel to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files. The invoice is dated 23 October 1951.

[5] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2118.

Technical Summary

The original support is composed of two pieces of wood with vertically oriented grain.[1] A triangular inset at the top left corner and a strip along the bottom, 1.5-2 cm in height, are not original. The panel has been thinned, mounted on hardboard with a mahogany veneer, and cradled. Strips of wood were added to all sides. There is no indication of a barbe in the thin, striated ground or of an original edge. Examination with infrared reflectography disclosed an underdrawn grid in a thick line laid in over the ground in what appears to be a liquid material. The figures and landscape are underdrawn in a liquid medium in a free, sketchy manner. Infrared reflectography also indicates changes in the figure of Longinus: in an earlier state the right leg was apparently thinner and more sharply bent and the torso may have been smaller or thinner. At the bottom of the panel, near Longinus' right boot and the hem of the Magdalene's robe, a series of male heads is visible in the x-radiograph as well as in infrared reflectography and to a much lesser extent as pentimenti. This area is covered with cracked and abraded overpaint that was applied considerably later than the original layer. The deepest shadows of the Virgin's robe are thickly painted.

The painting is abraded throughout, and the heaviest subsequent inpainting is located in the armor of Longinus, in Christ's face and hair, and to the right of the Magdalene's back. The added pieces at the bottom and upper left corner are repainted. The area from Longinus' right boot across the bottom of the Magdalene's dress continuing along the ground is repainted.

[1] The wood was identified as poplar by Mario Modestini in or before 1953, almost certainly on the basis of a visual examination.

Bibliography

1956
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 84-86, no. 30, repro., as by German Master.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 314, repro., as by German Master.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 57, as German School.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 49, repro., as German School.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 150, repro., as German School.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 151, no. 165, repro.
1977
Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 43, fig. 41, as German School, Second Half of XVI Century.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 151, no. 160, color repro.color repro., as by German School.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 29, repro., as Anonymous German 16th Century.
1987
Rapp, Jürgen. "Das Ligsalz-Epitaph des Münchner Renaissancemalers Hans Mielich." Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1987): 163, 164-165, fig. 4a, 166.
1990
Rapp, Jürgen. "Kreuzigung und Höllenfahrt Christi: Zwei Gemälde von Hans Mielich in der National Gallery of Art, Washington." Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1990): 65-96, color fig. 1, fig. 17.
1993
Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 152-159, color repro. 153.
1995
Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 19.
2012
Alsteens, Stijn. "Hans Mielich. 'The Circumcision of Christ'." In Dürer and Beyond: Central European Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1400-1700, edited by Stijn Alsteens and Freda Spyra. Exh. cat. New York, 2012. New York, 2012: 91, note 5.

Related Content

  • Sort by:
  • Results layout:
Show  results per page
The image compare list is empty.