Bernardo Daddi’s The Crucifixion.
Tempera on wood.
Date; between 1325 to 1330.
Bernardo Daddi was a supposed student of Giotto di Bondone. Most of Bernardo Daddi’s influence came from Giotto, Gaddi, and Sienese art, but others influenced him, too.
Though he included Byzantine elements, as you can see in The Crucifixion, Daddi also had more realistic elements. Daddi had a talent for intimacy in his paintings. I’ve read that he might have been influenced by Sienese art, (www.getty.edu) but most likely it was from his:
“happy conjunction between his own temperament, the rather relaxed taste of the 1340’s,” (History of Italian Renaissance, page 120.)
In The Crucifixion, the scene takes place after the soldiers pierced Christ’s side. Mary and Saint John are on either side of him. The background is gold, like
in Byzantine artwork.
We have Mary on the left, sitting. She is resting her head on her hand. Her face is grief stricken; she looks like she is crying.
On the right, Saint John is sitting, also grief stricken, but you don’t get the same feeling of agony as in Mary’s face. In the middle, you have Christ on the cross. Blood spurting from where the soldiers had pierced him. Both hands are dripping with blood. On his feet, blood is running down the cross onto the rock below. In the sky there are four angels, two on either side of Christ.
The angels are circling Christ, which is putting the focus on him. This can be found in Byzantine iconography. What is also in Byzantine iconography, that Daddi used in this painting, is the open space between the angels and Mary and Saint John symbolizing the divide between heaven and earth.
The blood from Christ’s body connects heaven and earth. Like in Byzantine iconography, Mary, Saint John, and the cross are not casting shadows, because according to the orthodox research institute:
“In a Byzantine icon there is no outside source of light. There are no shadows.”(http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org)
If you look at the picture, you can see a border around the painting. The border looks like a medieval illuminated manuscript and makes the painting look like a page out of a book.
I picked this painting because it caught my eye. I like the coloring of Mary’s clothing. I think Daddi caught the expression of Mary’s face well. When I look at this painting I feel sadness at what is happening. It is a beautiful painting.
Sources:
Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins G. David. History of Italian Renaissance Art. 5th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003, page 120
http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/family/allen_youth_values.htm
Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/public/
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1085
Stokstad, Mary. Art History. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc, 2008
Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins G. David. History of Italian Renaissance Art. 5th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003
The imagery of Christ surrounded by John the Baptist and the virgin Mary is very iconic, and has been depicted in many paintings. However, I like the intimacy of this one. Great article.
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