Window with the Crucifixion

Artist St. Cecilia Workshop (German, active about 1450 - 1475)

Place of OriginFlanders or Burgundy

Dateabout 1470

DimensionsGlass Dimensions: 45 × 22 7/8 in. (114.3 × 58.1 cm)
Frame (H x W x D): 43 5/8 × 25 5/8 × 1 7/8 in. (110.8 × 65.1 × 4.8 cm)

MediumPot metal and colorless glass, vitreous paint, silver stain, and lead

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of George H. Ketcham

Object number

1926.6

Not on View

DescriptionThree crosses against a dark blue sky. Soldiers, one with an inscription over head. St. John supporting Virgin.

Label TextThe design for this dramatic and emotional scene of the crucifixion of Jesus probably derived from devotional prints and paintings circulating in 15th-century northern Europe. The tormented figure of Christ nailed to the cross fills the composition. A banner at the top reads inri, an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). He is flanked by the crucified thieves, whose bodies contort in agony. In the lower left, the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother, faints in sorrow, falling into the arms of Saint John. Dressed like a wealthy citizen of Cologne, Roman soldier Longinus thrusts a spear into Christ’s side and points to his left eye, indicating that a drop of Christ’s blood healed his blindness. On the right, an armored centurion points to Christ and speaks, his words inscribed on a scroll (banderole): vere fylius dei erat iste (“This truly was the son of God”). This panel was originally installed in a cloister in Cologne or Düren, Germany. In the 15th century, Cologne supported a thriving stained-glass industry, especially known for adorning cloisters with colored and grisaille (shades of gray) windows, providing new opportunities for glassmakers and painters. This panel combines colored glass with clear glass stained yellow by silver nitrate.Published ReferencesCatalog of Costessey Collection, No. 45.

Skinner, Orin E., Stained Glass, vol. XXXI, no. II, Autumn 1936, p. 37, repr. p. 45.

Putney, Richard H., Medieval Art, Medieval People: The Cloister Gallery of the Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2002, p. 51 (det.), repr. (col.) fig. 43.

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, repr. (col.) fig. 1, p. 9.