The Crucifixion Altarpiece: Pilate Washing his Hands (Front Left Wing)

The Crucifixion Altarpiece is a triptych formed of three painted panels, the two side wings belonging to the Walker Art Gallery and the central painting to the National Gallery, London. Both wings have painted reverses which would be folded closed in front of the central panel to show a family witnessing the 'Mass of St Gregory'. The wings were separated from the centre panel in the early 19th-century before or during their export to Britain. Until 1963 the paintings on the backs of the wings were hidden under black paint and only rediscovered after cleaning and conservation.

The front of the left hand panel, shows the Roman governor of Jerusalem Pontius Pilate symbolically 'washing his hands of Christ' and handing him over to the religious authorities. It may include a self-portrait of the artist, who could be the man, wearing a black hat, and looking out at us over Pilate's shoulder .

This triptych was originally held in the parish church of St Columba in Cologne and was painted for the rich merchant and three-times mayor of Cologne, Hermann Rinck.