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Christ on the Cross (Delacroix)

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Christ on the Cross (1835) by Eugène Delacroix

Christ on the Cross, Christ between Two Thieves or Calvary is an 1835 painting by the French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix.[1]

It was not made for a church, but instead was a reinterpretation of a composition by Peter Paul Rubens, Christ on the Cross (The Coup de Lance) of 1620.[2] The art historians Sébastien Allard and Côme Fabre describe the "tumultuous sensuality" of the result, in which the emphasis is shifted from "the pathos of the Virgin" to the straining laborer at the right and the dishabille of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross.[2]

The painting was exhibited at the 1835 Paris Salon, after which it was bought for the French state for 2,000 francs and assigned to Morbihan. It was then exhibited at the church of Saint-Patern in Vannes, where the curé had the breast of Mary Magdalene overpainted and the work hung out of sight in the bell tower. The painting was restored in 1864 and the following year moved to its present home at the Musée de la Cohue, also in Vannes.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "La Cohue. Une nouvelle acquisition au musée". Le Telegramme. June 10, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Allard, Sébastien; Fabre, Côme; Korchane, Mehdi (2018). Delacroix. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-58839-651-8.
  3. ^ "La Cohue et le Christ sur la croix d'un certain Delacroix…". November 13, 2010.