Botticini, Francesco (1446-1498)
La crocifissione (The Crucifixion)
c.1471
Tempera on wood, 28.5 × 35 cm
National Gallery, London
Christ is shown nailed to the Cross at his crucifixion, flanked by the two thieves who were crucified alongside him. His mother, the Virgin Mary, and his disciple John (known as the beloved disciple) stand at the foot of the Cross.
The panel comes from the predella, which was the lowest part of an altarpiece and usually formed of individual narrative scenes. Several others from the same series, depicting the events leading up to Christ’s death, have been identified but we do not know to which altarpiece they belonged.
The picture was once thought to be by the Florentine painter Andrea Castagno, who trained the Pollaiulolo brothers, Antonio and Piero. The broad landscape background – which has darkened over time – with a winding path or river can be found in paintings by Piero and Antonio. More recently the picture has been connected with their Florentine contemporary, Botticini, who developed this type of landscape painting to grandest effect in his altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin, also in the National Gallery’s collection. (NG)