Jan Swart van Groningen
Christ in a Landscape
Jan Swart van Groningen
Groningen (?) before 1500 – Antwerp (?) about 1560
Christ in a Landscape
About 1530-1540
Oil on wood
118.8 x 93.5 cm
Purchase, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' Volunteer Association Fund, inv. 1996.15
Western Art
Dedicated in honour of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Desmarais in November 1996, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion
A regal Jesus Christ, muscular and draped in extravagant gold and purple garments, confronts the viewer with a direct gaze. His moody intensity, seen in his furrowed brow and tensed muscles, extends into the surrounding landscape rendered in a deep, earthy palette and teeming with details to explore. An imposing tree at right, robust and gently twisted, rhymes with Jesus’ body, further entangling landscape and figure.
