Crucifixion

Title: Crucifixion

Artist: Anthony van Dyck

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: tbd.

Date: c. 1622

Location: San Zaccaria, Venice.

Mark 15:34-35 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

Jesus’ cry is an Aramaic quotation of Psalm 22:1, which was sometimes recited at this time of day in prayer but takes on a special significance when Jesus prays it. The first line would evoke this whole Psalm for the religious sufferer - and its hope of vindication.

Anthony van Dyck (March 22, 1599 – December 9, 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. In 1620, at the instigation of the brother of the Duke of Buckingham, van Dyck went to England for the first time where he worked for King James I and James VI, receiving £100. His most famous portraits are of King Charles I of England and Scotland and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that became the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, and was an important innovator in watercolor and etching.