Crucifixion

One of the leading painters of the Romantic movement in Brussels, Louis Gallait was celebrated for his large-scale murals and history paintings. An accomplished draftsman, Gallait was a professor at the Academie Royale de Belgique as well as the institution’s director from 1871 to 1880. This study of the Crucifixion exemplifies Gallait’s drawing style. The artist is known for his skillful depiction of shadow and light to model forms, his mastery of anatomy, and the evocation of emotion, especially sadness. The possible influence of Rubens, whom Gallait closely studied and copied while briefly living in Antwerp in the early 1830s, particularly Rubens’s single-figure Crucified Christ (now Koninklijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp), suggests the drawing might date from this early period.