Christ on the Cross in the Church of S. Domenico in Arezzo

Johann Anton Ramboux’s Christ on the Cross bears Late Gothic traits in terms of brushwork, colours and composition. Indeed, having studied under Jacques- Louis David in Paris, the artist travelled round Italy for many years, copying countless 13th-16th-century frescos and mosaics. The piece here, a scene of the Crucifixion, framed on the right by the Apostle St. John and St. Dominic, on the other by Mary and St. Nicholas, comes from the Church of San Domenico in Arezzo and is presumed to have been painted by Aretino Spinnello (1346–1410). The watercolour is one of 325 sheets by Ramboux that were purchased around 1840 from the later Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and bequeathed to the City of Düsseldorf as a donation. This unique portfolio of copies of Old Italian Masters is now housed almost entirely in the Museum Kunstpalast’s Prints & Drawings Collection. Irrespective of his faithfulness to the original, Ramboux’ details, such as the faces, never deny that he produced the works in the 19th century. (Christina Voit)