Manner of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco

An x-ray provided by the current owner reveals many differences beneath the surface of the present work. The landscape fills the entire bottom half of the painting, with the horizon line level with Christ's waist; Mary has an entirely different position, further to the left and facing outwards; and Christ's head is downcast, akin to his pose in the painting of the same subject in the Prado, Madrid.¹ In its present state the disposition of Mary and St John reflect their counterparts in the Prado work, though there they are shown full-length, while Christ's head reflects his appearance in a work now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.² 

Intriguingly, there is a painting, apparently still lost, that Harold Wethey mentions as having been seen by Ponz and Cean Bermudez in San Clodio, Leon, which they said showed the Madonna and St John on either side of the cross (as here).³ Despite the obvious discrepancy, Wethey linked that reference with the Crucifixion in Philadelphia, which shows however Mary and St John on the same (left) side of the cross.

1. H. Wethey, El Greco and his school, Princeton 1962, vol. I, fig. 183, vol. II, p. 49, cat. no. 75.
2. Ibid., vol. I, fig. 186, vol. II, p. 46, cat. no. 68.
3. Ibid., vol. II, p. 50, under cat. no. 77.