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The Descent from the Cross

Rogier van der Weyden · Renaissance & Mannerism

Artist: Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399–1464)
Date: c. 1435
Dimensions: 204.5 x 261.5 cm
Medium: Oil on oak panel
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Painted around 1435 for a crossbowmen’s guild in Leuven, Rogier van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross shows the body of Christ being lowered from the cross by his followers, pressed into a shallow golden space like figures in a carved altarpiece.

A closer look

Ten life-size figures fill the panel from edge to edge. The fainting Virgin Mary echoes the curve of her son’s body, so that her grief mirrors his death. Every tear, fold of cloth and strand of hair is painted with extraordinary precision, yet the painting’s real power lies in its emotion. The small crossbows in the upper corners are a discreet tribute to the guild that commissioned it.

History of the painting

When Mary of Hungary acquired the altarpiece from the Leuven crossbowmen's guild, she gave them in exchange a new organ and a faithful copy by Michiel Coxcie. In Spain Philip II placed the original in his new monastery-palace of El Escorial in 1574, and it remained there for more than three and a half centuries. During the Spanish Civil War it was evacuated with the Prado's treasures to Geneva; on its return in 1939 it went to the Prado, where it has hung ever since.

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