The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Calvary with a Carthusian Monk

1389–1395

Jean de Beaumetz

(French, c. 1335–1396)

France, 14th century

oil on oak panel

Framed: 63.5 x 52.5 x 6.7 cm (25 x 20 11/16 x 2 5/8 in.); Unframed: 56.6 x 45.7 cm (22 5/16 x 18 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1964.454

Location: 109 Gothic Painting and Sculpture

Did You Know?

Records exist detailing the delivery of the this panel and 25 others to the monastery Chartreuse de Champmol, for use in the monks' cells.

Description

Jean de Beaumetz became the official court painter to the Burgundian duke, Philip the Bold, in 1376. Between 1389 and 1395 he created devotional paintings for the monks’ cells at the Chartreuse de Champmol, the monastery founded by Philip and his wife Margaret to house the ducal tombs. This panel, originally one of 26, is only one of two that have survived; the second is preserved in the Louvre in Paris. The Carthusians were intensely devoted to the Passion of Christ; particularly bloody images of the Crucifixion often decorated their cells. Isolated from one another, the monks contemplated the sacrifice of Christ (emphasized here by the presence of a Carthusian monk at the foot of the cross) creating an empathetic connection with the suffering of the Virgin who faints in the arms of the two Marys. Saint John the Evangelist, on the right, bows his head in sorrow. The punched decoration in the gold background represents the Trees of Life and Knowledge, emphasizing the biblical connection between Adam and Christ.

Private collection, France
-1964
Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1964-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.454