Sotheby’s Head Turner
Two years ago, shortly after I began this website, Christie's sold one of the most important Old Master paintings to come on the market for years: Poussin's Ordination from the collection of the Duke of Rutland. The auction house helped by Poussin scholars wrote a comprehensive catalogue entry for prospective buyers. Richard Knight and Paul Raison, the heads of the department, recorded a 5-minute video describing the picture's merits which you can still see online. What they forgot to do was turn their heads to see that the landscape, rotated vertically, becomes the profile of Christ with three crossed trees spelling the letter N for Nicolas Poussin directly over Christ's left eye. Poussin is Christ and the sacramental scene takes place, not in antiquity as they and others argue, but inside Poussin's own head. Expected to sell for $30 million, no-one wanted it, at least at that price. Some time later, the price certainly lower, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, bought it privately.
This month, a much less important painting Christ on the Way to Calvary (above and inset) by the little-known Marten van Cleve I (c.1527-c.1580) comes up for sale at Christie's rival, Sotheby's. It is quite large and, filled with interesting activity, quite pricey too. It is estimated to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000. Once again, though, despite an interesting catalogue entry someone has forgotten to turn their head. As above, the picture rotated 90˙ to the left like the Poussin, a face is seen emerging from the landscape. At top is a protruding eyebrow and half-way down a nose-like hill, out of which a carved nostril catches the light, it seems, from below.
Christ can be seen near the bottom, in the image as positioned above, wending his way upwards through a sea of humanity to Calvary where at least one Cross, for one of the thieves, has already been erected. Christ, of course, carries his own. Where will he be crucified then? On the brow (note the word) of the hill which is the artist's eyebrow right above his eye. Given the vast amount of evidence on this site from every period of art history, I take for granted that the "face" represents the artist. Christ, therefore, will be crucified inside the artist's mind because the scene we are looking at is not outside the artist's face but in.
Christ's Passion, as explained here under The Inner Tradition, is everyone's Passion, the struggle of every human to create. We all create our own lives through our creative perception of reality, some more successfully than others. Artists struggle to create paintings as well which, as art, proffer - for those who can see - a path towards happiness which, properly defined as access to Truth and Wisdom (ie. God), is what Christ's Passion is really all about.
So, if you're in New York, go on over to Sotheby's on York Avenue where Marten Van Cleve's painting will be on exhibit from the 25th-30th January 2013. Then twist your neck.
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Reader Comments
Beautiful web site; I will never look at a “master’s” portrait painting in quite the same way. Will be back for a visit…
Marilyn Collins
17 Feb 2013
Thank you, Marilyn! Much appreciated.
Simon
Simon Abrahams
18 Feb 2013