GIOTTO di Bondone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze) Crucifix 1290-1300 Tempera on wood, 578 x 406 cm Santa Maria Novella, Florence In spite of the fact that old sources mention the existence of a Giotto Crucifix in the Santa Maria Novella, the authenticity of the painting is debated. However, due to the similarities of this Crucifix and the Assisi frescoes, the attribution to Giotto is generally accepted and only the exact datation remained unsolved. Christ's heavy body in the Santa Maria Novella Crucifix, which was soon to become a basic prototype, is of such earthliness tha
GIOTTO di Bondone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze) Crucifix 1290-1300 Tempera on wood, 578 x 406 cm Santa Maria Novella, Florence In spite of the fact that old sources mention the existence of a Giotto Crucifix in the Santa Maria Novella, the authenticity of the painting is debated. However, due to the similarities of this Crucifix and the Assisi frescoes, the attribution to Giotto is generally accepted and only the exact datation remained unsolved. Christ's heavy body in the Santa Maria Novella Crucifix, which was soon to become a basic prototype, is of such earthliness that some have considered it unworthy of being attributed to the sublime artist of the Arena Chapel frescoes. Yet the work is so much in keeping with the ideas Giotto was developing at that time in his Assisi frescoes, that the figures of the mourning Virgin and St John in the side panels are almost interchangeable with those of Esau and Jacob in the scenes of the Isaac Legend. The two groups of figures have enough features in common to be certain that they were conceived by the same artist: the wide, square shoulders; the intense gaze (sorrowful, as befits the occasion, in the two Florentine figures; slightly clouded by a melancholy reminiscent of Cimabue in the Assisi figures); the solemnity and stiffness of attitude; the many fine folds in the classicized clothing; the ears shaped to resemble the handles of an amphora; and, in the figures of the Virgin and Jacob, the nose flattened to form a sharp angle, the cheek defined by the shallow cavity that begins at the nostrils, and the high cheekbones. *** Keywords: ************* Author: GIOTTO di Bondone Title: Crucifix Time-line: 1301-1350 School: Italian Form: painting Type: religious
Size: 2968px × 3824px
Photo credit: © Carlo Bollo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: artwork, paint, painter, painting, paintings
