1392
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Calvary with a Carthusian Monk is a 1392 unspecified by Jean de Beaumetz, a Byzantine icon painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a monk kneeling in front of a crucifixion scene—Christ on the cross, two thieves beside him, soldiers and mourners below. This small panel was made for a monk’s private cell, not a church. The Carthusians prayed alone for hours, so the painting had to feel personal, almost like a conversation. The blood on Christ’s body is painted in bold, bright strokes, meant to shock and focus the monk’s thoughts. Look up *sfumato* to see how later artists softened these sharp edges.
Jean de Beaumetz became the official court painter to the Burgundian duke, Philip the Bold, in 1376. Between 1389 and 1395 he created devotional paintings for the monks’ cells at the Chartreuse de Champmol, the monastery founded by Philip and his wife Margaret to house the ducal tombs. This panel, originally one of 26, is only one of two that have survived; the second is preserved in the Louvre in Paris. The Carthusians were intensely devoted to the Passion of Christ; particularly bloody images of the Crucifixion often decorated their cells. Isolated from one another, the monks contemplated…
Records exist detailing the delivery of the this panel and 25 others to the monastery Chartreuse de Champmol, for use in the monks' cells.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jean de Beaumetz is recorded to have been "painter and valet" to Philip the Bold, for whom he painted numerous works, and decorated, among other chapels, that of the Castle of Argilli, in Burgundy.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
