Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Christ on the Cross
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Sharply silhouetted against the darkened sky is the dying Christ. A couple of gesturing spectators appear at the left, and on the right are two mounted Roman soldiers with billowing banners. Other onlookers are visible in the mid-ground. Although not a practicing Christian, Delacroix painted a number of New Testament subjects. Evidently, he was attracted to the drama of Christ's Passion and was endeavoring to deal with issues of personal faith raised by Christ's human and divine nature. When this work was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1847, the critics enthusiastically praised it, noting its affinities with Crucifixion scenes by the great Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
van Isaker, Antwerp, March 16, 1847 (?), by purchase [sold by the artist together with an Odalisque]; van Cuyck Collection (?) [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Bonnet Collection Sale, Paris, February 19, 1853, no. 10; Collections of Bréville, Solar, Osiris, Gavet, Fanien [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Georges Petit (1856-1920) [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase [according to Robaut]; Collections Defoer Sale, Paris, May 22, 1886, no. 16; William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1886, by purchase [Montaignac as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2018-2019 | Delacroix (1798-1863). Musée du Louvre, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
| 2014-2016 | From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2011-2012 | Eugène Delacroix. Fundación "la Caixa", Barcelona; Fundación "la Caixa", Barcelona. |
| 2010-2011 | 19th Century Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin. |
| 2002-2004 | A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. |
| 2000-2002 | Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. |
| 1998-1999 | Delacroix: les dernières années. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. |
| 1996 | Millet and Barbizon Art. Matsumoto City Museum, Matsumoto City; Tokuyama City Museum of Art and History, Tokuyama; Kasama Nichido Museum, Kasama City; Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Kanazawa. |
| 1992-1993 | Loan exchange with Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis. |
| 1991 | Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
| 1989-1990 | The Art of the July Monarchy: France 1830-1848. Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri - Columbia, Columbia. |
| 1984 | The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1979 | A Baltimorean in Paris: George A. Lucas, 1860-1909. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1977-1978 | From Delacroix to Cézanne: French Watercolor Landscapes of the Nineteenth Century. Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park; Speed Art Museum, Louisville; The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. |
| 1977 | Paris-New York, a Continuing Romance. Wildenstein & Company, New York. |
| 1951 | From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. |
| 1847 | Salon, Paris, 1847. |
| 1889-1890 | The Works of Antoine-Louis Barye. American Art Gallery (New York), New York. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 10/25/1951 | Treatment | loss compensation; coated |
| 9/11/1956 | Treatment | loss compensation |
| 2/4/1963 | Treatment | cleaned; stabilized; mounted; loss compensation; coated; other |
| 12/2/1963 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 4/6/1982 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 4/14/1982 | Treatment | stabilized; loss compensation; other |
| 1/13/1989 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
| 11/20/1989 | Examination | examined for loan |
| 5/19/1992 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 4/21/1997 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 4/8/1999 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 11/15/1999 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 5/9/2008 | Examination | examined for loan |
| 11/4/2009 | Examination | examined for loan |
Measurements
Overall: H: 31 1/2 × W: 25 1/4 in. (80 × 64.2 cm)
Framed H with build up: 43 5/8 × W: 37 1/2 × D: 5 1/4 in. (110.8 × 95.3 × 13.3 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, 1886
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.62