Conventions, traditions: they last for centuries and provide visual recognition and guidance. And yet artists always find new ways of expression, which in turn set out new lines. Here we witness an evolution in art history; we see how young pupils like Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens step out of the shadows of their teachers.

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‘Christ on the Cross‘, one of the central themes of Christian faith has been reproduced countless times in religious art.
Here Mary and John stand under the cross; this is consistent with the Gospels, in which Jesus entrusts his mother to his beloved disciple. However, the Baroque painters abandon the medieval concept of left – right as each other’s counterpart. Here, mother and disciple are both standing on Jesus’ s right-hand side: this emphasizes that from now on, Mary has accepted John as her child. But Jesus’ s request is directed to all faithful Christians: “please regard Mary as your mother”.

Looking closely, we see that the painter, then in his mid-twenties, already has the intention to express each character’s emotions; but he still does it somewhat clumsily,

Mary looks at her deceased Son and with her right hand she lifts her head veil a little—the edge still casts a shadow on her forehead. With her left hand she covers her chest – the pounding mother’s heart?

John looks in the same direction and he folds his hands in prayer — or to give himself strength?

Two grieving women have turned their heads away – their hand gestures express their sorrows. Magdalene, the most faithful follower, traditionally identified with the penitent sinner, lets her hair hang down over a bare shoulder; this is clearly deviating from the dress code for the married woman. Mary Cleopas, the half-sister of Mother Mary, is standing in her shadow.

In the background we see the faint glimmer from the finishing eclipse; it lends a bit of depth to the scene. The external light comes from above, as you can see in Mary’s headscarf; the true, inner, light shines from the main figure, Jesus, on all the characters present.

Above the Crucified One, the wind blows up the text of the death sentence – just like Rubens painted it in ‘The Raising of the Cross’. In this way, quotations from one work in another shape new conventions.

Proceed the end of the Rosary series: Marian chapel