The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), has acquired The Crucifixion, ca. 1624–1625, a painting by Hendrick ter Brugghen. It is one of only two surviving versions of the artist’s work on this theme, the other being at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. no. 56.228). A possible third painting by the artist was lost during a fire in 2013.

The MFAH’s newly acquired painting was believed to have hung in a private chapel in Casale Monferrato, a small town east of Turin, before entering private collections in 1964. Unlike the New York version, which is signed and dated, the Houston panel has been trimmed on all four sides, removing what was likely a signature. For a more detailed information, you can read Wayne Franits’s article in the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art (2017 9:1), where he compares the two paintings.

The painting is set to go on view this November in the MFAH’s gallery dedicated to French and Italian Baroque art.