On view
Duane Wilder Gallery
Man of Sorrows with a Chalice (Christ as Redeemer),
1614
Each year on Good Friday, the Book of Common Prayer prescribes a passage from Isaiah 53 that is traditionally associated with Jesus as the Man of Sorrows: “Surely he has borne our infirmities.” In this painting, we see that the one who takes on the brokenness of the world is also the one who gives the sacraments to the church for its healing. The empty chalice is held at an angle, as if its contents have just been spilled out; the blood poured out in suffering is also the cup of salvation. The identity of Jesus as God incarnate is attested by two Trinitarian symbols: the faint triangle behind his head and the position of his right hand in a gesture of blessing. Goltzius reminds us that a mere man, even the most virtuous man, cannot redeem humanity. According to Christian theology, only God can do that.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Kara N. Slade, Associate Rector, Trinity Church; Canon Theologian of the Diocese of New Jersey
More Context
Handbook Entry
A suffering Christ with a triangular nimbus and crown of thorns sits alone in a niche. His glowing flesh pulses with life and pain against the cold stone. Yet his body already bears the stigmata, the five wounds of the Crucifixion. Pierced and bleeding, his right hand is lifted in a sign of blessing. This is the Man of Sorrows, a mystical image for contemplation, rooted in late-medieval devotional practice, showing Christ simultaneously living and dead. The image draws upon many sources, including a relic — Veronica’s Veil (Christ’s face was miraculously imprinted on the saint’s veil as she wiped his brow on the road to Calvary) — and the legendary Mass of Saint Gregory (the Man of Sorrows appeared to the saint while he celebrated mass, and Christ’s wounds bled into the chalice to demonstrate the doctrine of transubstantiation). The realism of Christ’s living body emphasizes his human suffering, yet, as a body brought to life again after death, also conveys the hope that through his suffering, he offers eternal life to all. Goltzius, the preeminent Dutch engraver, began to paint late in life. <em>Man of Sorrows with a Chalice</em> echoes the work of his teacher, Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574), whose expressive muscular figures were informed by Michelangelo and Classical antiquity, sources that Goltzius himself saw during a trip to Italy in 1590–91. He also invigorates his Christ with new vitality based on studies of living models in the Haarlem academy.
More About This Object
Information
1614
- Old master paintings: 1985 July 3, (London: Sotheby's, 1985)., no. 40 (illus.)
- Georgia Fogg, Art at auction: the year at Sotheby's, 1984-85, (London: Sotheby Publications, 1985)., p. 13 (illus.)
- Chronique des arts: supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts (Mar. 1986)., p. 32, fig. 196
- Charlotte Christensen, "'Cadmus, his companions and the dragon': a newly-discovered painting by Hendrick Goltzius", Hoogsteder-Naumann mercury no. 3 (1986): p. 3-19., p. 15, note. 1
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1985," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 45, no. 1 (1986): p.16–42, pp. 16–17 (illus.)
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 252 (illus.)
- Lawrence W. Nichols, "'Man of Sorrows with a Chalice' by Hendrick Goltzius," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 49, no. 2 (1990): p. 30–38., p. 30, fig. 1
- Reflections of the passion: selected works from the Princeton University Art Museum: March 9-June 9, 2002, (New York: Princeton University Art Museum, 2002)., cat. no. 6
- Huigen Leeflang, et. al., Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): drawings, prints and paintings, (Zwolle: Waanders, 2003)., p. 296-97, fig. 108
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 349
- John Varriano, Wine: a cultural history, (London: Reakton Books, 2010)., p. 269; p. 60 (illus.); fig. 28
- Marjolein Leesberg, "Hendrick Goltzius," New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700 (Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers, in co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2012)., nos. 17-28
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 121
