Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych

Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, considered Van Eyck (his court painter) unequalled in his “art and science.” In fact, Van Eyck's expansive yet microcosmic paintings seem observed through both a microscope and a telescope. In The Crucifixion, he evokes a remarkable range of emotions among the crowds, seen against a landscape depicting an imagined Jerusalem; in 1426 he made a trip across the Alps during a diplomatic mission to Italy and the Holy Lands. He gives an equally palpable form to the horrors of the Last Judgment. The frames are original, with damaged inscriptions in Latin and Middle Dutch. (Source: The Metropolitan Musuem of Art)