Christus aan het kruis 1608 - 1688

Curator: This drawing, entitled "Christus aan het kruis," is attributed to Claude Mellan, dating roughly from 1608 to 1688. It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. The medium is pen and ink on paper, rendered with exquisite line work. What are your initial thoughts on this portrayal? Editor: There’s a fragility to it that I find arresting. The paleness, almost ghostlike, is compelling, isn’t it? Despite the horror of the crucifixion, there's a striking stillness and grace in the composition, and it all rests upon such stark simplicity. Curator: Indeed. Mellan's mastery lies in his rendering of form using primarily line. The history of religious art is fraught with representations intended to evoke reverence and enforce power. Mellan seemingly strips away overt dramatization. What social or cultural effect might such an approach produce, do you think? Editor: Perhaps a sense of intimacy? Mellan sidesteps grandeur in favor of, if that is possible given the subject matter, human vulnerability. He zeroes in, and almost tenderly caresses form. One could see the humanity. The viewer isn’t confronted as much as invited inward to the experience. And, well, who doesn’t feel a sting when they’re made to feel they've intruded into the heart of somebody else's sadness? Curator: An astute observation. Baroque art often aimed to inspire awe, sometimes to dominate viewers through visual spectacle. But there's a quietness here, and perhaps in this drawing Mellan captures a personal sense of faith or contemplation amid sociopolitical turmoil of Europe. The delicacy with which he approaches the figure—that can draw a viewer into quiet communion, or into quiet outrage. Editor: It’s interesting, the role art has in allowing for something simultaneously personal and shared to occur. The weight of that silence is quite a feeling, when a viewer has so much shared history, a shared background with what he portrays in his art. And the viewer realizes all the things implied outside those gentle outlines he created here. Curator: Thank you. Your emotional response has truly given this work new and vital depth. Editor: Anytime, my friend. It was great delving into its historical depths together.