Christ , Brussels As is typical for paintings in the medieval
Man of Sorrows tradition, Christ is shown as between death and resurrection, and is pale and emaciated. The colour of his flesh was achieved by layering unusually thin brush strokes over a flat and pinkish
underpainting. He is streaming blood and looks outward at the viewer while, according to Rowlands, "dramatically confronting the beholder with the marks of
His Passion by placing his right hand upon
the wound in His side and by holding up His left hand to show the mark of the nail." Joel Upton described the figure as a standing "before the spectator as an immediate vision of the tortured Christ". Christ raises his right arm as if blessing, while blood eminnating from the
crown of thorns pours across his face and over his shoulders. A number of art historians, including John Rowlands and John Oliver Hand, have noted the man of sorrow's similarity to the dead Christ in his c. 1455–60
Lamentation in Brussels. The panel's painterly technique, colourisation and tone is often compared to his
Madonna of the Dry Tree. Christ wears a florated halo.
Angels , with angels holding a sword and lillies. Behind him are two unusually large and human-like, hovering angels, seemingly in mourning. Both hold the ends of the dark green curtain. A similar combination of a sword and lilies featured in a now lost
miniature of
God the Father from the
Turin–Milan Hours (c. 1420), but which was destroyed in a fire in 1904. The miniature showed God enthroned in a ceremonial
pavilion or tent, positioned before heavy curtains that are also held open by two flanking angels holding the same emblems. Modern art historians attribute the miniature to the
anonymous "Hand H", long suspected to be Christus himself. The reverse of the panel contains the seal of the Empress
Maria Theresa (d. 1780). ==Gallery==