The Crucifixion with Saint Francis
The Crucifixion with Saint Francis
- Artist
- Antoniazzo Romano
- Artist Dates
- active c. 1461-1508/1509
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- The Crucifixion with Saint Francis
- Date
- 1475-80
- Medium
- tempera and gilding on panel
- Dimensions
- 51.4 x 38.4 cm (20-1/4 x 15-1/8 in)
- K Number
- K318
- Repository
- Samek Art Museum
- Accession Number
- 1961.K.318
- Notes
Provenance
(Palumbo, Rome). (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Rome; Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 12 June 1935; gift to the National Gallery of Art in 1939; deaccessioned in 1952 and returned to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation; gift to the Samek Art Museum Bucknell University in 1961, no. BL-K16.
Catalogue Entry
Antoniazzo Romano
The Crucifixion with Saint Francis
K318
Lewisburg, Pa., Bucknell University, Study Collection (BL-K16), since 1961.(1) Wood. 20 1/4 X 15 1/8 in. (51.4 X 38.4 cm.). Inscribed at the top of the cross: INRI (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). Fair condition; some restoration. This is recognized as an example of the artist's best period, about 1475/80, when Umbrian influences and especially the influence of Melozzo da Forlì were uppermost in his style.(2) The landscape background, rare in Antoniazzo's panels and here bathed in the pearly light of an evening sky, is especially appropriate in association with St. Francis, who is posed as in the scene of his ecstasy, with the stigmata displayed in the palms of his hands. Provenance: Palumbo, Rome. Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1935 – exhibited: 'Mostra di Melozzo e del Quattrocento Romagnolo,' Palazzo dei Musci, Forlì, June-Oct., 1938, no. 198, as Antoniazzo Romano; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (280), 1941-53.(3)
References
(1) Catalogue by B. Gummo, 1961, p. 24, as Antoniazzo Romano. (2) K318 has been attributed to Antoniazzo by W. von Bode (ms. opinion, 1924, noting a proximity in light effect to Piero della Francesca and Melozzo), R. Longhi (in Vita Artistica, vol. II, 1927, pp. 230 f.), R. Buscaroli (in Bollettillo d'Arte, vol. XXXII, 1938, p.90, where he cites K318 as marking the height of Antoniazzo's style; but later (Melozzo e il Melozzismo, 1955, p. 147) he thinks Antoniazzo's style and taste never descended so low as to admit of this attribution; one wonders whether in this second instance Buscaroli may not have been thinking of K1031 (Fig. 8)), B. Berenson, G. Fiocco, F. M. Perkins, W. E. Suida, A. Venturi (in ms. opinions), and F. N. Arnoldi (in Commelltari, vol. XVI, 1965, pp. 229 f). (3) Prelimillary Catalogue, 1941, p. 8, as Antoniazzo Romano.
Catalogue Volume
Italian Paintings XV – XVI Century