Christ on the Cross

Barthélemy d'Eyck's Christ on the Cross, painted around 1445 and now in the Louvre, is one of the most important works by this shadowy Franco-Flemish master who served at the court of René of Anjou in Provence. D'Eyck — probably a relative of Jan van Eyck, though the exact relationship remains disputed — brought the rich oil technique and naturalistic precision of the Flemish school south to the Mediterranean world. His Crucifixion demonstrates how Flemish pictorial values — the vivid corporeality of Christ's suffering, the expressive grief of attendant figures — entered French and Provençal painting in this period.

Oil and tempera on panel exhibiting the characteristic Flemish layered glazing technique that gives flesh tones unusual translucency. The cross is set against a darkening sky with Jerusalem visible in the distant background rendered in fine atmospheric perspective.