Crucifix
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Authors
Benedetto da Maiano, circle of
Date
Type
image
Language
Keyword
Crucifix , Christ , Cross , Jesus
Alternative Title
Abstract
This crucifix, currently housed in the museum of the Cenacolo del Fuligno in Florence, offers a particularly gentle and sweet representation of Christ's sacrifice, one of many created in the late fifteenth century (ca. 1495-1500 in this case). The eyes are almost closed, and so Christ is surely on the point of death, but his elegant face is completely calm and muscular body like that of a Greek athlete, with no sense of the pain or physical weight dragging downwards. The blood, now quite faint, would have been more vivid originally, as when subsequent paint layers were removed in a recent restoration, the surface revealed had lost many of its glazes and subtleties. (Blood was often painted on crucifixes in multiple layers of different reds, as recommended by Cennino Cennini, which was the case here, as in a protected area of the head a more vivid, darker streak of blood survives.) The head, torso, and part of the thighs are carved from one piece of wood and the arms and remainder of the legs assembled from multiple pieces. The loincloth was made from a piece of cloth, dipped in gesso and wrapped around the body. The crucifix came to its current location from the Educatorio della SS. Concezione in Florence, but its original location is undocumented. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Cenacolo del Fuligno, Florence; Educatorio della SS. Concezione, Florence
Citation
Anna Bisceglia, Il Crocifisso del Fuligno: Storia, studi, conservazione (Livorno: Sillabe, 2011); Margrit Lisner, Holzkruzifixe in Florenz und in der Toskana (Munich: Bruckmann, 1970), 79-80.