Jacopo di Cione, 'The Crucifixion', about 1369-70
About the work
Overview
This picture is unusual in Italian painting of this period in showing so much detail from the Gospel accounts of Christ’s crucifixion in one relatively small panel. Such images were usually reserved for large wall paintings. Christ is shown on the Cross between the two thieves who were crucified with him. Below, the Virgin Mary collapsing in grief is supported by Mary Magdalene, recognisable by her red robes and long red hair. Saint John the Evangelist stands slightly apart from them, raising his hand to his face in grief.
Saints Benedict and Bernard, the founders of the Cistercian Order, flank the Virgin and Child in the roundels below the main scene. The prominent position of women in the scene – particularly Mary Magdalene – and the inclusion of two female saints in the roundels indicates that the original location may have been a nunnery. This was possibly Santa Maria Maddalena di Cestello, the Cistercian nunnery dedicated to Mary Magdalene in Florence.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Crucifixion
- Artist
- Jacopo di Cione
- Artist dates
- documented 1365; died 1398 -1400
- Date made
- about 1369-70
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 154 × 138.5 cm
- Inscription summary
- Inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by the Revd Jarvis Holland Ash, 1896
- Inventory number
- NG1468
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 14th-century Florentine Frame (original frame)
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2014Making ColourÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â (London)18 June 2014 - 7 September 2014
Bibliography
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1822J. Rutter, A Description of Fonthill Abbey and Demesne, in the County of Wilts: Including A List of Its Paintings, Cabinets, and Other Curiosies, 2nd edn, Shaftesbury 1822
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1823Phillips, The Valuable Library of Books at Fonthill Abbey, London, 9 September 1823 - 31 October 1823
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1877Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 1877), London 1877
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1917O. Sirén, Giotto and Some of His Followers, Cambridge MA 1917
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1930R. Offner and K. Steinweg, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, 8 vols, New York 1930
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1932H.D. Gronau, 'Jacopo di Cione', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1932
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1951Davies, Martin, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1978S. Jones, 'The Fonthill Abbey Pictures: Two Additions to the Hazlitt Canon', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XLI, 1978, pp. 278-96
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1986Davies, Martin, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1988Gordon, Dillian, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
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1989D. Bomford et al., Italian Painting before 1400 (exh. cat. ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, 29 November 1989 - 28 February 1990), London 1989
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, New Haven 1991
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1991D.F. Zervas, 'Lorenzo Monaco, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Orsanmichele: Part 1', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1064, 1991, pp. 748-59
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1997N. Penny, Frames, London 1997
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1998N. Penny, 'The Study and Imitation of Old Picture-Frames', The Burlington Magazine, CXL/1143, 1998, pp. 375-82
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2011Gordon, Dillian, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011
Frame
This fourteenth-century Italian multi-part panel painting is structured in the format of a polyptych, with predella, framing elements and three-dimensional canopy, and separate pilasters. The canopy at the top consists of seven domes with tall gables interspersed with finials and adorned with drop capitals. The domes feature Gothic arches and crockets. Each dome is made from a separate block of wood, hollowed to form a vault which is painted blue with gold stars, visible only from below. The pilasters and predella have slightly raised outer framing elements and are decorated with pastiglia ornaments of scrolling flowers and foliage. Eight roundels on the pilasters originally featured coats of arms (no longer legible), with four appearing on the front of the frame, and four on the sides.
The structure of the altarpiece is in excellent condition but most of the finials and finer decoration around the domes, and the spires at the tops of the pilasters, are later replacements.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Library.
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