German school; century XVI. "Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John". Oil on panel. Engatillada. It has crackle, repaints, breakage in the lower right area and damage to the frame. Measures: 70 x 76 cm; 85 x 82.5 cm (frame). On this canvas the Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John at his feet is shown, an evolved iconographic form of the original Byzantine Déesis, representing Christ in Majesty accompanied by Mary and Saint John the Baptist. In Western art, the representation of Christ on the cross will be preferred, as a narrative scene, and the figure of Saint John the Baptist will be replaced by that of John the Evangelist. However, as in the Byzantine Deesis, in the western model both the Virgin and Saint John have their faces raised or facing Christ, with their hands in supplication in the name of humanity. In this composition we also see, at the foot of the cross, the skull and tibia of Adam, a symbol that alludes to the figure of Christ as the new Adam, as redeemer of man s sin. The three figures are placed in the foreground, on a deep green lawn behind which the landscape unfolds in depth, with the city of Jerusalem in the background, under a turbulent and ominous sky. In order to emphasize the drama of the composition, the author has played with lighting and creates a much more dark atmosphere in the experimental perimeter, while the center, surrounding the figure of Christ, appears more illuminated, worked in tones of the same range. , mainly earthy and reddish, nuanced with bluish and green touches, but much clearer This marked effect on lighting is a typical plastic resource of the time, which breaks with classical norms in its search for a more conceptual, symbolic and all expressive. Another resource, which can be seen here at first glance, is the marked spatial tension derived from the large size of the figures of the Virgin and Saint John, who occupy a large part of the pictorial surface. Its monumentality, enhanced by its wide clothing. Beside his mother and his disciple, Jesus appears semi-naked, with his almost lifeless body broken and pale, which greatly accentuates the drama of the representation. However, apart from these elements we see features that remain faithful to classicism, especially in the color aspect of close-ups. Beyond, in the background landscape, we do see anticlassic colors, undefined and strangely bleached by the artificial light, but in the foreground carmine and green dominate the cloaks of Saint John and the Virgin, large planes of color that they echo in the space around them, and they appear superbly toned and balanced.