Crusading in a Lisbon Convent: The Making and Meaning of The Passion of Christ in Jerusalem (Lisbon, ca. 1500)

Abstract

The Passion of Christ in Jerusalem (ca. 1500; Museu Nacional do Azulejo) weaves an episodic account of Christ’s Passion through a unified Jerusalem cityscape. Previous scholars have classified it as a northern import, a work by a Netherlandish artist commissioned as a gift for Queen Dona Leonor of Portugal by Emperor Maximilian I. Material evidence, however, suggests that it was produced in Portugal and that the artist modified and assimilated Netherlandish iconographies, combining them with Portuguese cultural references, to create a unique work shaped by and for the audience it served: the Poor Clare nuns of the Madre de Deus convent outside of Lisbon. The Lisbon Passion is a hybrid work that synthesizes a range of visual inspirations and adds to the hybridization of the convent itself, bridging Lisbon and Jerusalem.