Double-Tiered Triptych: Scenes from the Passion of Christ

Although signed NARDON PÉNICAUD, this triptych was probably produced by a younger member of Pénicaud’s workshop, possibly after his death in 1541. The individual scenes derive in part from a series of engravings of the Passion of Christ by the German engraver and painter Martin Schongauer (ca. 1445–1491). The complex iconographic program starts with the plaque at the upper left that depicts Christ bearing the cross and returning to Veronica the veil she had offered him earlier, which now features an impression of his face. The Crucifixion is at the upper center, the Deposition at the lower left, and the Entombment in the lower central plaque. On the upper right, Christ’s victory over death is depicted in the triumphant Harrowing of Hell, followed by the Resurrection at the lower right. The triptych’s brilliance is achieved by the extensive use of silver foil beneath the translucent colored enamel.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.

Said to have been bought in Italy in the eighteenth century by an ancestor of the Marqués de Ferraz, Barcelona, from whom it was acquired by J. Pierpont Morgan, London and New York. Duveen. Frick, 1916.

Source: Enamels, Rugs and Silver in The Frick Collection. Volume VIII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1977.