Two Panels from a Triptych

Storm clouds gather over Jerusalem as the Son of God dies on the Cross. Beneath Christ’s wounded rib, the Temple splits in two. At the bottom of the panel Mary faints into the arms of her companions as Roman soldiers dressed as Turks, Germans, and Latins roll dice for Christ’s robe on a backgammon board. The scene is packed: bright robes, glinting blades, and craggy rocks are electrified with white highlights giving the scene an anxious energy beneath the quiet of Christ on the Cross. On the opposite panel, lutes, viols, horns, and recorders fill the din of Herod’s banquet hall under a richly gilded ceiling. Far below the celebratory commotion, John the Baptist is forced to his knees as the executioner’s blade swings towards his exposed neck.

Georgios Klontzas (1535-1608) — the master behind these jewel-like panels — was one of the most innovative icon-painters in the latter half of the sixteenth century. His work elegantly blends Western European and Byzantine approaches to sacred imagery.

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