Christ taking leave of his Mother

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Christ taking leave of his Mother, Germany, 1536

Christ taking leave of his Mother is a subject in

Passion and death; indeed this scene marks the beginning of his Passion.[1]
In early versions just these two figures are usually shown, at half-length or less.

After

Mary Magdalen and other apostles may be shown. It is probably more common in prints than paintings.[2]

Subject matter

Christ taking Leave of his Mother, by Albrecht Altdorfer c. 1520, one of the treatments with a landscape background.

The subject does not illustrate any Biblical passage, but derives from one of the

Passion plays and other religious dramas.[5] It may be depicted in Christ Blessing with the Virgin in Prayer, a work by Robert Campin of the early 15th century,[6] and is painted several times by Gerard David at the end of the century (Dublin, Basel, Munich, Metropolitan New York);[7]
many lesser artists were painting the subject by then, especially in Germany.

Awareness of the subject was further spread by prints, by Albrecht Dürer in his very popular woodcut series the on the Life of the Virgin (ca. 1505),[8] and again in his woodcut Passion series (1509), and also by Lucas van Leyden. As was by then often the case, many provincial painters used the compositions of the prints directly as a basis for their paintings, for example a version from his eponymous altarpiece by the Nuremberg painter known as the "Master of the Schwabach Altarpiece"(1506, Compton Verney House), who uses his fellow-townsman Dürer.[9]

The first third of the 16th century was the period of peak popularity for the subject;

National Gallery, London).[12] The Huber is a cut-down fragment with just the group around the Virgin, and Christ's arm coming in from the right. Both of these works have a lush forest background, a swooning Virgin, and show the female figures in largely contemporary dress.[13]

One of the earliest of the few Italian depictions, an early

Pitti Palace has a work that is at least from the school of Paolo Veronese. A painting by El Greco
of 1595 is something of an outlier.

Gallery

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jesus Christ's farewell to his mother.
  • Life of Jesus in the New Testament
  • Roman Catholic Marian art

References

  1. ISBN 0-300-12155-5
  2. ISBN 1-85709-218-X
  3. ISBN 1-85709-050-0
  4. ^ Hofmeister, Wernfried. "Steirische Literatur im Mittelalter | Philipp v. Seitz: Marienleben" (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  5. ^ Langmuir, pp. 102-3.
  6. ^ Philadelphia Campin image This derives from Byzantine images, according to Hand, Metzer & Spronk op & page cit.
  7. Madonna and Child on the left wing, and a Christ taking leave of his Mother on the right wing. MMA, New York
    - the other wing of this is in England. See Hand, Metzer & Spronk op & page cit., an exhibition catalogue entry for the Basel work.
  8. ^ Image Archived July 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "About Compton Verney". Compton Verney.
  10. ^ Most of the works mentioned here date very close to 1520.
  11. ^ "National Gallery". nationalgallery.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  12. ^ "National Gallery". nationalgallery.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  13. ISBN 1-85709-218-X
  14. ISBN 0-947645-22-5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christ_taking_leave_of_his_Mother&oldid=1144142420"