Paolo Veneziano

Venezia, Paolo di Martino da

Venetian, active 1333 - 1358

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At least eleven people gather around a man hanging from a wooden cross, all against a gold background in this nearly square painting. The people have pale skin tinged heavily with gray, and pink on the cheeks. At the center of the composition, the man, Jesus, hangs from nails driven into the cross through his palms and feet. His thin body is covered only by a sheer loincloth across his hips. His knees angle to our left, and his head tips in that direction. He has a beard and auburn-brown, shoulder-length hair. His eyes are closed under furrowed brows. A gold halo surrounds his head and has red lines radiating to the red outline of the disk. The letters “INRI” appear on a panel on top of the cross. Three small, winged angels, like miniature people, catch vibrant red blood spurting or trickling from Jesus’s two palms and a gash over his right ribs in gold bowls. A fourth angel clasps hands in prayer. The angels have brown or blond hair, gold halos, and cobalt-blue robes and wings. A woman with long, curly, copper-colored hair kneels at the base of the cross, holding Jesus’s bleeding feet. To our left, a woman wearing lapis-blue swoons into the arms of two women who wear hoods and robes in marigold orange or nickel gray. All four women have gold halos, as do two of the four men standing together to our right. One of those men has short, copper-blond hair and wears a blue robe. His cloak is rose pink on one side and green on the other. He holds his small hands together in prayer and looks up at Jesus in profile. The other three men wear helmets and armored breastplates. One of them, at the front of that trio, has a halo and he points up at Jesus. The hand and torso of another person is visible along the right edge of this group, but the upper body has been lost. The cross sits on a low, rocky rise over a small cavern holding a skull. The ground around the cross and groups is carnation pink. A crenelated, turquoise-colored wall, about elbow height, runs across the back of the scene. The glimmering gold background is worn in some areas, revealing the red ground beneath the gold leaf.
Paolo Veneziano, The Crucifixion, c. 1340/1345, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.143

The Crucifixion

Paolo Veneziano · c. 1340/1345 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.143

Bibliography

1907

  • Gronau, Hans Dietrich. “Paolo Veneziano.” In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 26(1932):214-215.

1909

  • Testi, Laudedeo. La storia della pittura veneziana. 1. Le origini. Bergamo, 1909: 185-208, 534-535.

1930

  • Vavalà, Evelyn Sandberg. “Maestro Paolo Veneziano.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 57, no. 331 (October 1930): 160-182.

1954

  • Lazarev, Viktor Nikitič. “Maestro Paolo e la pittura veneziana del suo tempo.” Arte veneta 8 (1954): 77-89.

1964

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo, ed. La pittura veneziana del Trecento. Venice, 1964: 17-60.

1965

  • Muraro, Michelangelo. “Maestro Paolo da Venezia: fortuna critica.” Ateneo veneto 3 (1965): 91-97.

1966

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Paolo Veneziano e il suo tempo. I maestri del colore 241. Milan, 1966.

1969

  • Muraro, Michelangelo. Paolo da Venezia. Milan, 1969.

1972

  • "Paolo Veneziano." In Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli Incisori italiani: dall’XI al XX secolo. Edited by Alberto Bolaffi and Umberto Allemandi. 11 vols. Turin, 1972-1976: 8(1975):323-325.

1986

  • Lucco, Mauro. "Paolo Veneziano." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:648.

1989

  • Zava Boccazzi, Francesca. “Paolo Veneziano.” In Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo and Bruno Toscano. 6 vols. Turin, 1989-1994: 4(1993):139-140.

1991

  • Flores d’Arcais, Francesca. “Paolo Veneziano.” In Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Edited by Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana. 12 vols. Rome, 1991-2002: 9(1998):156-160.

1992

  • Lucco, Mauro. "Paolo Veneziano." La Pittura nel Veneto. Il Trecento. Edited by Mauro Lucco. 2 vols. Milan, 1992: 543-544.

1996

  • Gibbs, Robert. “Paolo Veneziano.” In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 24:29-34.

1997

  • Santini, Clara. “Un episodio della pittura veneziana di primo Trecento: il ‘Maestro dell’Incoronazione della Vergine di Washington.’” Il Santo 37 (1997): 123-145.

2002

  • Flores d'Arcais, Francesca. “Paolo Veneziano e la pittura del Trecento in Adriatico.” In Il Trecento adriatico: Paolo Veneziano e la pittura tra Oriente e Occidente. Edited by Francesca Flores d’Arcais and Giovanni Gentili. Exh. cat. Castel Sismondo, Rimini. Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 2002: 19-31.

  • Mori, Francesco. “Paolo Veneziano.” In La pittura in Europa. Il Dizionario dei pittori. Edited by Carlo Pirovano. 3 vols. Milan, 2002: 3:676-677.

2003

  • Pedrocco, Filippo. Paolo Veneziano. Milan and Venice, 2003.

2009

  • Boskovits, Miklós. “Paolo Veneziano: riflessioni sul percorso, 1 and 2.” Arte cristiana 97 (2009): 81-90, 161-170.

2016

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 323-324.