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The Descent from the Cross was painted for the Chapel of Our Lady Outside the Walls at Leuven, which was founded in the fourteenth century by the Great Crossbowmen`s Guild, sold in 1798 and demolished soon afterwards. The two small crossbows that hang from the tracery in the corners of the panel indicate that it was commissioned by that guild. The earliest datable copy, the Edelheere Triptych of 1
The panel has been trimmed on all four sides but little of the painted surface can have been lost. It is made from two boards of Baltic oak, both from the same tree; the last ring was formed in 1372. Black overpaint conceals areas of damage on our left of the Virgin`s face and on our left of the Child`s head and torso. On our right of the Virgin, a similar area of black overpaint may hide a shadow
The panel has been extended at the top: the original part is one board of Baltic oak, horizontal in grain and about 27 cm high. Sections of the unpainted edges survive on all four sides. The last ring in this original part of the panel was formed in 1418. Above is an addition, also of oak; it is cut into an arched shape fashionable in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Dendrochronol
The composition is inspired by Rogier van der Weyden`s models. The figure of Christ is based in reverse of the Crucifixion in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum) and the Mary Magdalene is quoted from the Descent from the Cross in the Prado. In spite of the meticulous technique and his mastery of landscape, indebted to Gerard David, the author lacks Van der Weyden`s skill in linking the figures toget
