Gillis Congnet or Coignet (Antwerp 1538-Hamburg 1599).
This artist began his training in a completely Flemish setting, but his time in Italy, documented to have been approximately between 1565 and 1570, lent his style a richer tone in colors and compositional verve.
Upon returning to Antwerp, he employed several apprentices and workers in his workshop. One of these may have been the artist of this Crucifixion. The features of the ivory faces of the holy figures have small eyes and mouths; the fabrics are flowing and substantial, some full of swirling, dynamic folds; the night landscape is rendered in minute detail; and it features warm, vibrant hues, almost Venetian. All these traits are distinctive of Gillis Congnet’s workshop after 1570.
We can compare it to examples like the “Crucifixion with the Madonna, Magdalene and St. John,” and the board paintings depicting “The Annunciation,” “The Adoration of the Magi,” and “St. Peter” in the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Redonda (La Rioja, Spain).
