Scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Crucifixion [middle panel]
1380s
Artist, Sienese, c. 1330 - 1413

This painting of the Crucifixion by Andrea di Vanni (Sienese, c. 1330 - 1413) reflects a growing concern among 14th-century artists to historicize the Biblical narrative. To accomplish this, Andrea endeavored to recreate, with the greatest possible accuracy, the events surrounding the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Provocative details, such as the brutal smashing of the Bad Thief’s legs or the swoon of the Virgin Mary, strengthen the illusion of historical actuality and grant the scene an intimate expressive force.
The deep, saturated hues of red, yellow, and blue create rhythmic alternations of color that play against the gold backgrounds and halos to animate the scenes. Such dazzling effects accentuate the dramatic gestures of the figures, whose robust, naturalistic forms are carefully organized to express compelling human emotion and facilitate narrative legibility. The exquisite miniaturist quality of execution, dynamic use of space, and construction of depth exemplify a skillful conflation of elements derived from the previous generation of Sienese painters, particularly Simone Martini (Sienese, active from 1315; died 1344) and the Lorenzetti brothers.
Flanking panels of the Agony in the Garden and the Descent into Limbo are attached to the Crucifixion by hinges and can be folded over it to protect it and facilitate transportation. As a portable altarpiece, Andrea’s triptych may have been intended for a small chapel or domestic interior where it could be displayed or concealed according to its owner’s requirements. Whenever the altarpiece was viewed, spectators would be reminded of the difficult paradox of Jesus’s identity, as well as the name of the artist: Andrea’s signature is inscribed in golden letters along the bottom edge of the central panel’s frame.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 3
Artwork overview
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Medium
tempera on panel
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
painted surface: 46.9 × 49 cm (18 7/16 × 19 5/16 in.)
overall: 56.9 × 57.9 × 3.4 cm (22 3/8 × 22 13/16 × 1 5/16 in.) -
Accession
2014.79.711.b
Associated Artworks

Scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Descent into Limbo [right panel]
Andrea di Vanni
1380

Scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Agony in the Garden [left panel]
Andrea di Vanni
1380
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
William Andrews Clark [1839-1925], New York, by 1919; bequest 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1959
Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro., as Portable Altarpiece.
1978
The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, fig. 27.
2002
Antiquities to Impressionism: The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
Bibliography
1921
Perkins, F. Mason, "A Triptych by Andrea di Vanni." Art in America 9, no. 5 (August 1921): 180-188, repro.
1923
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 2(1924):443-445, repros.
1925
Carroll, Dana H. Catalogue of Objects of Fine Art and Other Properties at the Home of William Andrews Clark, 962 Fifth Avenue. Part I. Unpublished manuscript, n.d. (1925): 127, no. 58.
1927
Offner, Richard. Studies in Florentine Painting: The Fourteenth Century. New York, 1927: 78.
1932
Corcoran Gallery of Art. Illustrated Handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection. Washington, 1932: 59, no. 2181.
Edgell, George Harold. A History of Sienese Painting. New York, 1932: 172–173, fig. 224.
1939
Pope-Hennessy, John. “Notes on Andrea Vanni.” The Burlington Magazine for
Connoisseurs. 74, no. 431 (1939): 97.
1943
Pope-Hennessy, John. "A Madonna by Andrea Vanni." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 83, no. 484 (1943): 174.
1952
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd edition. Oxford, 1952: 268.
1955
Carli, Enzo. La pittura senese. Milan, 1955: 154-158.
1959
Corcoran Gallery of Art. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1959: 8-9, repro.
1960
Francisci Osti, Ornella. “Andrea Vanni.” In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 3(1961): 122–124.
1966
White, John. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250 to 1400. Baltimore, 1966: 365.
1968
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:442.
1969
Bologna, Ferdinando. I pittori alla corte angioina di Napoli, 1266-1414, e un riesame dell’arte nell’età fridericiana. Rome, 1969: 325-326.
1978
Brown, David Alan. “Andrea Vanni in the Corcoran Gallery.” In The William A. Clark Collection: An Exhibition Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Installation of the Clark Collection at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. Exh. cat. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978: 32–37.
Wainwright, Valerie Linda. "Andrea Vanni and Bartolo di Fredi: Sienese Painters in their Social Context." Ph.D. dissertation. University of London, University College, 1978: 145–146.
1979
Fleming, Lee. “Washington: A Guide to the Arts.” Portfolio (June/July 1979): 90, repro. 91
1981
Worthen, Thomas Fletcher. "The Harrowing of Hell in the Art of the Italian Renaissance." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, Ames, 1981: 102-104, 386 n. 29, 387 n. 31, fig. 49.
1982
Il gotico a Siena: miniature, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti d’arte. Exh. cat. Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Florence, 1982: 287
1993
Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 106.
1996
Wainwright, Valerie. “Andrea (di) Vanni (d’Andrea Salvani).” In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 2:21.
2001
Coyle, Laura, and Dare Myers Hartwell, eds. Antiquities to Impressionism: The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, DC, 2001: 53, repro.
2002
Heartney, Eleanor, ed. A Capital Collection: Masterworks from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. London, 2002: 90.
2005
Schmidt, Victor M. Painted Piety: Panel Paintings for Personal Devotion in Tuscany, 1250-1400. Florence, 2005: 193, repro. 196, 203 n. 92.
2016
Paolucci, Antonio, et al, eds. Piero della Francesca: Indagine su un mito. Exh. cat. Museo San Domenico, Forlì, 2016: 82.
Inscriptions
lower center on original frame of the panel, some of the letters restored: ANDREAS UANNIS / DE SENIS / ME PINXIT (Andreas di Vanni of Siena painted me); above the cross, in gold bordered by red rectangle: INRI; on red flag, in gold: SPQR
Wikidata ID
Q46624289