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Diptych with the Passion of Christ

Unknown

1400

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Byzantine icon painting Renaissance Religious Styria

Dominant colour

Diptych with the Passion of Christ is a 1400 unspecified by Unknown, a Byzantine icon painting work, depicting Styria, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1400 · Byzantine icon painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This small hinged painting folds like a book, showing four moments from Jesus’s last days. The top panels show him being whipped and mocked with a crown of thorns. Below, he stands before Pilate and prays in the garden. It was made for someone to carry and pray with—like a portable altar. The scenes are simple, with bright colors and gold backgrounds, so the story stands out clearly. No one knows who painted it, but it was likely made in Austria around 1400. To see more art like this, look up *austria, styria, 15th century*.

The story of this work

Overview

This diptych, or two-panel painting, is hinged at the center so that it could be opened and closed and easily transported. It was clearly designed as an object for private devotion. The owner would have been able to contemplate the Passion of Christ and pray before these scenes. The top two images depict Christ’s scourging at the pillar and the crowning of thorns, while the lower two show Jesus before Pontius Pilate and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The scenes would have been read clockwise beginning with the lower right. On the back of these panels are remnants of paintings that have since…