Crucifixion (van Dyck) Crucifixion (van Dyck) The Crucifixion is an oil on canvas painting by Anthony van Dyck, produced around 1630. It is 2.51 m high. It was originally commissioned as the high altar-piece in the convent of the Récollets in Lille during van Dyck's second Antwerp period, between his return from Italy in 1627 and his departure for London in 1632. It returned to a theme he had already painted around 1617-19 during his first Antwerp period, when he was still a studio-assistant to Rubens - this was "Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary, St John and St Mary Magdalene", sold to Rubens
Anthony van Dyck was stronger than for other types of work. Van Dyck tried to persuade Charles to commission him to do a large-scale series of works on the history of the Order of the Garter for the Banqueting House, Whitehall, for which Rubens had earlier done the huge ceiling paintings (sending them from Antwerp). A sketch for one wall remains, but by 1638 Charles was too short of money to proceed. This was a problem Velázquez did not have, but equally van Dyck's daily life was not encumbered by trivial court duties as Velázquez's was. In his visits to Paris in his