About the Artwork
In this emotionally charged painting, Jesus’s disciples lower his crucified body from the cross. His form curves limply as Nicodemus eases him into the arms of Joseph of Arimathea; both men wear sumptuous clothes of heavy wool, silk, and brocade. Saint John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen surround the cross, their faces tearstained and their garments crumpling into angular folds. The composition is deeply indebted to Rogier van der Weyden’s monumental Deposition altarpiece of 1435 (Museo del Prado, Madrid), which inspired many Netherlandish artists.
This is one of few surviving paintings attributed to the “Master of the Embroidered Foliage,” an artist or — more likely — a group of artists working in the cities of Bruges and Brussels (present-day Belgium). Like related works, the scene is set within a landscape dominated by groves of trees whose meticulously depicted foliage resembles fine needlework or tapestry, the basis for the name art historian Max Friedländer gave to the unknown maker. However, recent analyses have revealed this verdant body of paintings to be the work of several artists with a similar style who drew upon shared models.
Descent from the Cross
ca. 1500 or 1520
Master of the Embroidered Foliage
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Netherlandish
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Oil on oak panel, cradled
Unframed: 38 7/16 × 31 5/8 inches (97.6 × 80.3 cm) Framed: 44 5/8 × 37 7/8 inches (113.3 × 96.2 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Cracchiolo
2019.18
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
before 1903, Heinrich Frans Angelo Antoine-Feill, Galerie H. Fr. A. Antoine-Feill (Hamburg, Germany);May 8–10, 1903, presented at auction (J.M. Heberle, lot 32, Hamburg, Germany).
June 1930, Julius Stern (Düsseldorf, Germany).
before December 13, 1978, private collection H. Brandts (Mönchengladbach, Germany).
before December 13, 1978, Dowager Marchioness of Tweeddale, likely Marjorie Helen Wagg (1899–1977);
December 13, 1978, consigned to auction (Sotheby’s, 13 December, 1978, London, England), lot 72.
July 10, 1987, sold at auction (Christie’s, London, England), lot 54;
July 1987–1989, Ambassador J. William Middendorf II [b. 1924] (Washington, D.C., USA);
1989–2000, Hester Diamond [b. 1928] (New York, New York, USA);
2000–2004, private collection (Santiago, Chile);
2004, Otto Naumann Gallery (?) (New York, New York, USA);
2005, Colnaghi (Bernheimer) Gallery (London, England and Munich, Germany);
2005–2019, private collection of Mr. And Mrs. Raymond Cracchiolo (Detroit, Michigan, USA) on loan to the DIA (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
2019-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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"General Notes," Burlington Gazette 1, no. 2 (May 1903): 61-67, p. 65. [as by a Brabant master under the influence of Roger De la Pasture and Dirk Bouts]
Katalog der Ausgewählten und Reichhaltigen Galerie Alter Meister aus dem Nachlasse des Rechtsanwalt Herrn Dr. Heinrich Franz Angelo Antoine-Feill zu Hamburg. Sales cat., J.M. Heberle. Cologne, 1903, pp. 10-11, no. 32 (ill.).
The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue, vol. 1. New York, 1968, p. 166. [as a copyist of Gerard David, in the collection of H. Brandts, Mönchen-Gladbach, Germany]
Important Old Master Pictures. Sales cat., Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co. London, December 13, 1978, pp. 76, no. 72 (ill.).
Important Old Master Pictures. Sales cat., Christie, Manson & Woods. London, July 10, 1987, pp. 72-73, no. 54 (ill.). [as by Circle of Gerard David]
Miegroet, Hans J Van. Gerard David. Antwerp, 1989, p. 285. [see no. 15, as a copy by to a follower of [Gerard] David (attributed to) in the collection of H. Brandts, Mönchengladbach, Germany]
Adam, Georgina. "Report: The European Fine Art Fair, Despite the absence of Sheikh Saud, sales were excellent." The Art Newspaper 14, no. 157 (April 2005): p. 57 (ill.).
Le Maître au Feuillage brodé: Primitifs flamands. Secrets d'ateliers. Exh. cat., Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Paris, 2005, pp. 49-50, 100-101, cat. 13 (ill.).
Campbell, Lorne. "Book Review: Primitifs flamnds. Le Maître au Feuillage Brodé: Secrets d'ateliers by Florence Gombert and Didier Martens." Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1235 (February 2006): 127-128, p. 127.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Master of the Embroidered Foliage, Descent from the Cross, ca. 1500 or 1520, oil on oak panel, cradled. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Cracchiolo, 2019.18.
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