Click on any panel in the altarpiece reconstruction below to see an enlarged version of the image. Color reproductions in the reconstruction indicate panels in the National Gallery of Art collection.
Overview
The Virgin Mary bows her head and rests her cheek on her hand in a universally recognized gesture of grief. This panel and one depicting
The large crucifix had long been a common part of church decoration in the West, usually suspended high above the main altar or attached to the screen that separated the altar and other areas reserved for the clergy from the nave. However, the look of the crucifix changed dramatically in the early 13th century. Earlier, it had been the living Christ who appeared on the cross, triumphant over death, often crowned. The imagery we are familiar with today--Christ’s body slumped and lifeless, his face marked by the pain he endured--is owed largely to the Franciscans and to the artists, like the anonymous master of this Madonna, who worked for them. The members of this new order of mendicant preachers sought a deeply personal and emotional connection to Christ. Looking to Byzantine models, as the magnificent patterning and gold striations in the drapery show, they developed a new powerful image that pushed viewers to identify directly with Jesus’s suffering, to become--like the Virgin and Saint John--mourners at the cross.
Entry
Because of their relatively large size, this panel and its companion,
The two panels represent, respectively, the mother of Jesus and his favorite disciple in the typical pose of mourners, with the head bowed to one side and the cheek resting on the palm of the hand.
While most art historians have accepted Sirén’s view and the conventional name he coined for the master,
The chronological sequence of the works attributable to the anonymous master is still under discussion. Useful clues can be deduced, however, from a comparison between some passages, such as the figure of the mourning Saint John, that frequently recur in his paintings. In my view, the pictorial treatment of the apostle in the crucifixes in the Treasury of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, the Pinacoteca of Faenza, the bank in Camerino, and the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna not only confirm that these works were all painted by the same master but also suggest that their order of execution must have been that listed above. In the four versions of the image of Saint John, the design seems to gain in fluidity and the contours in movement, while the forms become more segmented, or ruffled, by the increasingly close-set alignment of the drapery folds. At the same time, the pose of the apostle gradually assumes the hanchement so dear to
That the two fragments formed part of the crucifix now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna must remain a hypothesis that only proper scientific and technical analysis of the panels could corroborate. Yet the dimensions and pictorial treatment of the panels now divided among the galleries of Bologna and Washington and a private collection provide strong arguments to support the view that they originally belonged together. As for the measurements, the two panels in the Gallery, slightly cropped to the sides, are very similar in size to the upper terminal of the Bolognese crucifix
Miklós Boskovits (1935–2011)
March 21, 2016
Provenance
The two fragments (NGA 1952.5.13 and .14) were originally lateral terminals of a painted Crucifix presumably made for the church of San Francesco, Bologna, sometime after 1254 and before 1278;[1] the Crucifix is known to have been in the Lombardi Malvezzi Chapel in that church in 1577,[2] and was transported to the Bolognese church of Santa Maria in Borgo in 1801 (perhaps by which time its two lateral terminals might have been removed);[3] purchased, probably in Italy, by Osvald Sirén [1879–1966], Stockholm, by 1922.[4] Philip Lehman [1861–1947], New York, by 1928; purchased June 1943 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1952 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1946
- Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 808.
- 1999
- The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi, Petit Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1998-1999, no. 3/1, repro., as The Mourning Virgin by Master of the Blue Crucifixes (shown only in New York).
- 2000
- Duecento: Forme e colori del Medioevo a Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna, 2000, no. 50, repro.
Technical Summary
Both this painting and its companion,
The panels are in fair state. During a treatment by Stephen Pichetto in 1944, they were thinned and attached to secondary panels with auxiliary
Bibliography
- 1907
- Vollmer, Hans. "Meister des Hl. Franziskus von Assis." In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker and Hans Vollmer. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 37(1950):105.
- 1922
- Sirén, Osvald. Toskanische Maler im XIII. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1922: 221-222, 223, 224, 339, pl. 82.
- 1923
- Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 1(1923):402.
- 1928
- Lehman, Robert. The Philip Lehman Collection, New York: Paintings. Paris, 1928: no. LIX, repro.
- 1929
- Sandberg-Vavalà, Evelyn. La croce dipinta italiana e l’iconografia della Passione. Verona, 1929: 845, 855, 857, 884.
- 1930
- Mayer, August L. "Die Sammlung Philip Lehman." Pantheon 5 (1930): 115.
- 1931
- Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 5, repro.
- 1933
- Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 1:no. 6, repro.
- 1941
- Coletti, Luigi. I Primitivi. 3 vols. Novara, 1941-1947: 1(1941):24.
- 1943
- Sinibaldi, Giulia, and Giulia Brunetti, eds. Pittura italiana del Duecento e Trecento: catalogo della mostra giottesca di Firenze del 1937. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence, 1943: 149, 151.
- 1945
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 4, repro.
- 1946
- Douglas, Robert Langton. "Recent Additions to the Kress Collection." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 88 (1946): 85.
- 1946
- Frankfurter, Alfred M. Supplement to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1946: 15, repro.
- 1946
- National Gallery of Art. Recent Additions to the Kress Collection. Washington, 1946: n.p.
- 1949
- Garrison, Edward B. Italian Romanesque Panel Painting: An Illustrated Index. Florence, 1949: 14, 221 n. 605, repro.
- 1955
- Lazarev, Viktor Nikitič. "Un crocifisso firmato di Ugolino Tedice." Paragone 6 (1955): 9, 12 n. 40.
- 1957
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 3.
- 1959
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 10, repro.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 85.
- 1966
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 4, fig. 4.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 75, repro.
- 1971
- Pittura nel Maceratese dal Duecento al tardo gotico. Exh. cat. Chiesa di S. Paolo, Macerata, 1971: 44 n. 3.
- 1972
- Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 287, 646, 665.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 220, repro.
- 1979
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:312-313; 2:pl. 223.
- 1980
- Scarpellini, Pietro. "Le pitture." In Il tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco ad Assisi. Edited by Maria Grazia Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto. Assisi, 1980: 40-41.
- 1982
- Tambini, Anna. Pittura dall’Alto Medioevo al Tardogotico nel territorio di Faenza e Forlì. Faenza, 1982: 34-35.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 253, repro.
- 1986
- Lunghi, Elvio. "Maestro dei Crocifissi Blu." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:596.
- 1987
- Marques, Luiz. La peinture du Duecento en Italie centrale. Paris, 1987: 58, 286.
- 1989
- Todini, Filippo. La pittura umbra dal Duecento al primo Cinquecento. 2 vols. Milan, 1989: 1:125 as by Maestro dei Crocifissi Blu.
- 1991
- Tartuferi, Angelo. Giunta Pisano. Soncino, 1991: 82, 94.
- 1991
- Tomei, Alessandro. "Giunto Pisano." In Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Edited by Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana. 12 vols. Rome, 1991-2002: 6(1995):811.
- 1998
- Morello, Giovanni, ed. Sauver Assise. Exh. cat. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Milan, 1998: 50.
- 1999
- Cannon, Joanna. "The Stoclet ‘Man of Sorrows’: A Thirteenth-Century Italian Diptych Reunited." The Burlington Magazine 141 (1999): 110 n. 28.
- 1999
- Morello, Giovanni, and Laurence B. Kanter, eds. The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Milan, 1999: 64, repro.
- 2000
- Benati, Daniele. “La città sacra: Pittura murale e su tavola nel Duecento Bolognese.” In Duecento: forme e colori del Medioevo a Bologna. Edited by Massimo Medica and Stefano Tumidei. Exh. cat. Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna. Venice, 2000: 106 n. 42.
- 2000
- Medica, Massimo, and Stefano Tumidei, eds. Duecento: forme e colori del Medioevo a Bologna. Exh. cat. Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna. Venice, 2000: 186, 194, 197-200, 201, 203, 210, repro. 198.
- 2000
- Medica, Massimo. “La città dei libri e dei miniatori.” In Duecento: forme e colori del Medioevo a Bologna. Edited by Massimo Medica and Stefano Tumidei. Exh. cat. Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna. Venice, 2000: 125.
- 2002
- Cannon, Joanna. "The Era of the Great Painted Crucifix: Giotto, Cimabue, Giunta Pisano, and their Anonymous Contemporaries." Renaissance Studies 16 (2002): 576.
- 2002
- Giorgi, Silvia. "Maestro dei Crocifissi Francescani." In La pittura in Europa. Il Dizionario dei pittori. Edited by Carlo Pirovano. 3 vols. Milan, 2002: 2:534.
- 2004
- Pinacoteca Nazionale (Bologna). Catalog generale. Edited by Bentini, Jadranka, Gian Piero Cammarota, and Daniela Scaglietti Kelescian. Vol. 1 (of 5), Dal Duecento a Francesco Francia. Venice, 2004: 43.
- 2006
- Cooper, Donal. "Projecting Presence: The Monumental Crosses in the Italian Church Interior." In Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype within Images and other Objects. Edited by Robert Maniura and Rupert Sheperd. Burlington, VT, 2006: 54-55, 61 n. 42, repro. 68.
- 2006
- Tambini, Anna. Storia delle arti figurative a Faenza. Vol. 1 (of 4), Le origini. Faenza, 2006: 75, repro. 79.
- 2016
- Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 276-285, color repro.
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Altarpiece Reconstruction

Reconstruction of a painted crucifix, formerly in San Francesco, Bologna, by the Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes:
a. Painted Crucifix with the Madonna between Two Angels (above) and the Kneeling Saint Francis (below), and Saint Helen (added by Jacopo di Paolo) (Entry fig. 3)
b.
c.
d. Bust of the Blessing Christ (Entry fig. 2)