Calvarieberg 1548 - 1575

Pieter Aertsen created this pen and brown ink drawing, "Calvarieberg", a study for a painting, probably in the mid-16th century. The lines of the drawing are delicate, but the image conveys a narrative moment of great drama. The underlying grid is visible, suggesting a transfer process to canvas, and perhaps collaboration in the studio. In this period, the division of labor was becoming ever more pronounced, with artists like Aertsen managing workshops that produced paintings for churches and wealthy patrons. Though the subject matter is religious, Aertsen was known for his genre scenes, with vendors and working-class people at market. You might even say that the suffering of Christ, rendered here in brown ink on humble paper, has a connection to the daily toil of ordinary people. Thinking about the material and the making, alongside the context, allows us to understand this drawing, not just as a preparatory sketch, but as a document of its time.