The Crucifixion

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Artist: Samuel van Hoogstraten (Dutch, 1627–1678)
Medium: Pen and brown ink with gray wash, red chalk, and heightening with white opaque watercolor; corrections in white opaque watercolor, on laid paper
Size: 24.5 × 25.1 cm (9 5/8 × 9 7/8 in.)
Culture: Dutch
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Van Hoogstraten made this large, highly finished drawing as an independent work of art. Unlike his teacher Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 -1669), who used pen and ink relatively free of other media, van Hoogstraten here employed a rich array of techniques encompassing pen and ink, brown and gray wash, white opaque watercolor, red chalk, and red chalk in solution. The effect is less of an exploratory sketch than of a finished painting, filled with scenographic action and detail. Christ hangs on the cross at right, blood streaming from his hands and feet.

The crucified good thief is at the left, his arms pierced by swords. Mary Magdalene and other mourners gather at the base of the cross, while the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist stand weeping to the left. In the right background a group of soldiers, their backs turned to the viewer, gambling over Christ's garments. Other onlookers are visible throughout the composition, including a woman cradling a swaddled baby at the center. A skull and bones at lower right marks the site as Golgotha. The drawing shows traces of having had a rounded frame at the top, which would have enhanced its effect as a small painting.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.