The Descent from the Cross

A masterpiece of Early Netherlandish painting, Rogier van der Weyden's 'The Descent from the Cross' (c. 1435) was made as the central panel of an altarpiece for the Crossbowmen's Guild chapel in Leuven. On an oak panel over two metres high, ten life-size figures lower the dead Christ within a shallow gilded niche that compresses the scene like painted sculpture. The fainting Virgin mirrors the pose of her son in one of the most eloquent compositions in all 15th-century art. Acquired by Philip II of Spain in 1574, it passed through the Escorial to the Prado.

Exhibition Venue

Museo del Prado

Madrid, Spain