Crucifixion

In the course of years, Hans von Aachen worked on the composition of Crucifixion several times. The very first version of this composition was a lost painting, about whose sale Philipp Hainhofer informed Duke Philipp von Pommern-Stettin in 1611. Most possibly, the painting was created after a drawing now held by the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich. The painting from the National Gallery in Prague is the only known painted copy of the second version of the composition, now lost. It could be a work of one of Aachen’s pupils, dating it into the time around 1600. In the second version of the composition particularly the figure of St John was changed. Whereas in the first version of the Crucifixion John is looking up the cross in a mild, yet pleading gesture, in the second version he is standing below the cross with his arms stretched out. The monumental gesture of John’s arms is copied by the S-shaped posture of his body. Dated 1602, the third version of the Crucifixion is now held in a private collection in Berlin. This painting combines the motifs of the two earlier versions.