Christ on the Cross
Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), Christ on the Cross, ca. 1500, tempera on wood, Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, public domain, 61.54
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Christ on the Cross
- Artist
- Date
ca. 1500
- Period
High Renaissance (late 15th-1520s)
- Medium
tempera on wood
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
27 7/8 in x 15 3/4 in
- Collection Area
European Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
painting
- Culture
Florentine
- Credit Line
Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation
- Accession Number
61.54
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Botticelli is best known for his poetic mythologies, but late in his career, under the influence of the puritanical religious reformer, Savonarola, he turned to highly expressive and often archaic religious themes. His use of a silhouette cutout seems to have been inspired by an earlier type of devotional image—the painted crosses of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
This work may have been used as a processional cross, but since it is painted on one side only, it was more likely intended for placement on the wall above an altar.