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Artists Palace Gardens | Bellini | Botticelli | Bronzino | Brueghel | Canova | Caravaggio | Gentileschi | Giambologna | Giordano | Greco | Lotto | Luini | Mantegna | Masaccio | Masolino | Michelangelo | Palma | Parmigianino | Porta | Raphael | Reni | Titian | Van Dyck | Warhol
Van Dyck (1599–1641) Christ Crucified and Portrait of an Old Man, Capodimonte Museum, Naples
Van Dyck “Christ Crucified”
Painting – Oil on canvas (155 x 111 cm) 1621–1625
Van Dyck, Christ Crucified To highlight this crucifixion more effectively, Van Dyck painted Christ against an almost black background, to the extent that the colour of the wood of the cross fades, diminishing its prominence in favour of the pallor of the crucified man’s body.
Christ’s body glows against a backdrop of darkness, arched, strained by suffering.
We see him, his head tilted back in a final effort, looking up to heaven to implore the Father: “God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33–34)
Above Christ is affixed the ‘titulus’, the sign that Pontius Pilate had placed on Jesus’ cross bearing the four letters INRI for ‘Iesus Nazarenus Rex ludoeorum’, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
Van Dyck “Portrait of an Old Man”
Van Dyck, Old Man Painting – Oil on wood (44.5 x 34.5 cm) 1622–1624
This superb portrait, painted by Van Dyck, depicts an elderly man who is deeply absorbed, his head leaning forward.
He is gazing intently at something that interests him, much like a scientist or scholar examining a complex problem and seeking to solve it.
Van Dyck’s broad brushstrokes emphasise the old age and tension in this man’s facial muscles, complemented by his shaggy beard, receding hairline and white hair.
Artists Palace Gardens | Bellini | Botticelli | Bronzino | Brueghel | Canova | Caravaggio | Gentileschi | Giambologna | Giordano | Greco | Lotto | Luini | Mantegna | Masaccio | Masolino | Michelangelo | Palma | Parmigianino | Porta | Raphael | Reni | Titian | Van Dyck | Warhol
Capodimonte Artists Schedule Tickets Location | Authorizations
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