Hans Caspar Memberger (c. 1555 – c. 1618), Crucifixion... Lot n° 2

Memberger, who came from Constance, combined Italian mannerism with the South German tradition of the 16th century. From 1596 to 1599, he worked as a court painter to Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, prince of Salzburg, but already in 1588 he painted the Deluge cycle for him, in which Venetian patterns from the workshop of Master Bassano were used. Memberger later returned to Constance. His works are rare, which makes this unusual crucifixion scene dated 1605 all the more important. Under a dark sky, a cross with Christ is erected by several men on Calvary. A nimbus of light rays surrounds his head. The tools lie on the ground at the foot of the cross. Onlookers surround the scene in a circle, including the girl on the left, who turns away from the horrific scene while her father puts a protective arm around her. In the background, to the left, a detachment of the Roman army on horseback watches over the execution. In the background on the right on the hill, John, Mary, and other women from Christ's circle are crying. Jerusalem can be seen behind them. In the foreground on the right, a group of Jewish priests and Pontius Pilate in an ermine cloak witness the crucifixion. They look at the crucified one suspiciously. The man who removed his turban out of respect may be Joseph of Arimathea. He was a secret disciple of Jesus and later had him buried in his tomb. The color spectrum is dominated by ochre, brown and green tones, combined with pale red and purple tones, giving the scene an impressive atmosphere. Memberger took the figures raising the cross from Agostino Carracci's 1589 engraving after Jacopo Tintoretto's large painting of Golgotha in the Scuola di San Rocco. The crucifix appears in Christoph Schwarz's Erecting the Cross from 1587, now in the National Museum in Warsaw, and was published in an engraving by Ägidius Sadeler in 1590. A halo around the head of Christ also appears there. 141 x 95 cmOil on fir wood