Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009752The Crucifixion
About the Artwork
This small picture belonged to a predella, a series of subsidiary panels consisting of narrative scenes and situated at the bottom of an altarpiece. Predella paintings are significant because the artist was allowed more freedom and inventiveness here than in the higher part of the altarpiece. In this Crucifixion scene, the harmony of colors, the monumentality of the figures, and the symmetry of the composition all reflect the classical spirit of Renaissance Italy. Moreover, the panel shows some characteristics of the traditional Sienese school—such as the quality and elegance of the lines—which persists in Giovanni’s works.
Provenance
–1890s: M. Chaff, Paris (as Mantegna) 1890s: Baron Michele Lazzaroni, Paris (1863–1934) –1929: John E. Fairfax Murray, Florence (1849–1919) 1929: M. Knoedler & Co., New York City 1929–1940: James Parmelee, Washington D.C. (1855–1931) 1940: By bequest to The Cleveland Museum of Art
Exhibition history
Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Matteo di Giovanni (Italian, c. 1435–1495)
- Date
- 1470s
- Medium
- tempera and oil with gold on wood panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 39.4 x 38.1 x 4.5 cm (15 1/2 x 15 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 29.8 x 31 cm (11 3/4 x 12 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of James Parmelee
- Accession no.
- 1940.535
More by Matteo di Giovanni in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009752
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