Triptych of the Descent of the Cross

The Triptych of the Descent of the Cross is a triptych of oil paintings on wood attributed to the Flemish artist Gerard David and followers, painted presumably in the period between 1518 and 1527 for Convent of Our Lady of Piety, Santa Cruz (Madeira), and which is currently in the Museum of Sacred Art of Funchal.The Triptych of The Descent of the Cross represents in the central panel the biblical episode of the Descent of the Cross and on the side panels are represented São Tiago Maior (left) and São Bernardino de Siena (right) with the couple of Donors. This great Triptych documents well what was the preference of the great sugar merchants for Flemish art and also the unusual dimensions of the painting they liked to order the most. The authorship of the Triptych of the Descent of the Cross was attributed to Gerard David by the art historian Max Friedlander, a proposal that was later followed by other scholars, and it was noted the proximity of the face of the Virgin Mary to that of the Pieta of the Hermitage Museum.Gérard David was born between 1450-60 in Oudewater, in the present Holland, having been registered as a master painter in Bruges, in 1484, and later in 1515, in the Guild of Antwerp, having died in Bruges in 1523. Since it was commissioned later in 1518, the Triptych of the Descent of the Cross will belong to the last cycle of the artist and must have been finished by his followers.