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On Henry Moore's recommendation, the Rev. Walter Hussey, the Dean of St Matthew's, Northampton, commissioned Graham Sutherland to paint a crucifixion to hang in St Matthew's opposite Moore's Madonna and Child. Sutherland began Crucifixion in the summer of 1946, and it was unveiled in St Matthew's on 16 November 1946. For this large scale and powerful depiction of Christ, Sutherland found inspiration in Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, 1512-16.
Just days after the unveiling of Crucifixion, Sutherland completed The Deposition (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), in which he includes the traditional mourners at the base of the cross: the Virgin, St John and Mary Magdalen. The kneeling figure of Mary Magdalen closely relates to the figure in Weeping Magdalen, which Sutherland painted in December 1946. The pose, with her head thrown back and shrieking mouth, are reminiscent of the mother and child in Picasso's Guernica, 1937, and was a motif also adopted by Sutherland's friend Francis Bacon. The garments worn by this Mary Magdalen appear to grow up out of the ground, and the saturation of Sutherland's characteristic green pigment is a reminder of the significance of the landscape within his work.
Frankland Dark, the previous owner of Weeping Magdalen, was a renowned architect, most notable for his contribution to industrial architecture, in particular for the design of power stations. In 1956 Dark commissioned Geoffrey Clarke to make the window at his home at Hyde Park Gate. This would be Clarke's first sculptural window, made up of protruding lead circles set with irregular pieces of coloured glass. This coincided with a period of post-war architectural redevelopment in Britain, during which Clarke carried out around fifty architectural commissions, including the nave windows for Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral. Central to the Cathedral is Sutherland’s tapestry, Christ in Glory, which can be seen as a continuation of the religious theme explored by Sutherland ten years earlier.
Just days after the unveiling of Crucifixion, Sutherland completed The Deposition (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), in which he includes the traditional mourners at the base of the cross: the Virgin, St John and Mary Magdalen. The kneeling figure of Mary Magdalen closely relates to the figure in Weeping Magdalen, which Sutherland painted in December 1946. The pose, with her head thrown back and shrieking mouth, are reminiscent of the mother and child in Picasso's Guernica, 1937, and was a motif also adopted by Sutherland's friend Francis Bacon. The garments worn by this Mary Magdalen appear to grow up out of the ground, and the saturation of Sutherland's characteristic green pigment is a reminder of the significance of the landscape within his work.
Frankland Dark, the previous owner of Weeping Magdalen, was a renowned architect, most notable for his contribution to industrial architecture, in particular for the design of power stations. In 1956 Dark commissioned Geoffrey Clarke to make the window at his home at Hyde Park Gate. This would be Clarke's first sculptural window, made up of protruding lead circles set with irregular pieces of coloured glass. This coincided with a period of post-war architectural redevelopment in Britain, during which Clarke carried out around fifty architectural commissions, including the nave windows for Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral. Central to the Cathedral is Sutherland’s tapestry, Christ in Glory, which can be seen as a continuation of the religious theme explored by Sutherland ten years earlier.