“Tríptico do Calvário” (Triptych of the Calvary) by Frei (Friar) Carlos, 1520-30
The Triptych of the Calvary is a set of three oil paintings on oak wood painted around 1520-30 by a popular Luso-Flemish Hieronymite friar named Carlos, active in Portugal in the first half of the 16th century. The Calvary scene is the central panel of the Triptych, with the upper part shaped like an ogee. Christ is crucified in the center of the painting, with the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist standing on either side and Mary Magdalene on her knees, almost facing back, in the foreground.
The left side panel of the Triptych, «Saint Jerome delivering the Rule to Saint Paula and Saint Eustochium», is topped by a barrel vault. In a tiled interior, the Saint founder of the Order can be seen sitting, on the left and in profile, holding in his hands a book with an inscription in Latin. In front of Saint Jerome is a group of seven kneeling nuns wearing the habit of the Order with Saint Paula of Rome in front, in a beautiful natural portrait. To the right of Saint Paula is her daughter, the learned the virgin scholar Eustochium, for whom Saint Jerome wrote his celebrated letter De custodia virginitatis. In turn, in the lower left corner there is a lion which is the attribute of Saint Jerome. In the background, against the wall, is an altar with a painted altarpiece covered by a carved Gothic canopy. The panel of this altarpiece represents the Nativity, and at the top an Annunciation with the Angel on the left and the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary on the opposite side. Finally, on the right side, beyond a door, you can see the adjoining compartment where three monks, two kneeling and one standing, witness the act.
The right side panel of the Triptych, «Saint John the Baptist», is also topped by a barrel vault. This painting represents Saint John the Baptist in the desert, sitting facing forward, in the foreground. He wears brown, with a lilac cloak hanging from his shoulder and an open book on his lap. He takes a string of beads in his left hand and points to the symbolic lamb with his right (“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29). He has a Cross and the flag of the faith next to him, leaning against a rock. Behind Saint John the Baptist is a rock and a group of trees and further away, on the bank of a river, the scene of Jesus' baptism. Jesus has on His right John the Baptist dressed in crimson and on His left an Angel holding a lilac cloak in His arms. The dove of the Holy Spirit hovers in the air over Jesus' head. This panel, with a more balanced and sober decomposition, contrasts with that of Saint Jerome, in which eleven human figures are represented in just two planes on a panel with the same dimensions.
