ROGER van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross in the Escorial occupies a unique place in the history of art. It is the only composition by an old Flemish master that is truly monumental, not only in actual size (220 × 262 cm.), but in sentiment and composition. The painter, furthermore, has boldly broken with a firmly established iconographic tradition; he has conceived the Descent from the Cross afresh. His composition—“der glucklichste Griff, der je einem niederlandischen Maler im funfzehnten Jahrhundert gelungen ist”1—created a profound impression. No other painting of its school has been copied or adapted so often;2 and the high price at which, in 1556, the Regent of the Netherlands, Mary of Hungary, secured the picture (which had adorned the main altar of the Church of Our Lady at Louvain until that time) for Philip II of Spain attests to its fame even then.3