The Crucifixion

Master of the Codex of Saint George

ca. 1330–35 · Tempera on wood, gold ground · The Cloisters

The deep emotional piety shown in these expressive faces and gestures is made more poignant by the weighty drapery folds modeled in sharply contrasting highlights and shadows, by the vivid coloring, and by the taut composition. The unidentified artist has been linked to a miniature painter who illuminated several manuscripts, including a life of Saint George in the Vatican, for cardinal Stefaneschi, resident at the papal court in Avignon from 1309–1341, and a missal, probably for the same patron, in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Also in the Museum's collection is a companion panel, The Lamentation. Both were part of a larger ensemble of hinged panels, two others of which are missing and two of which are preserved in Florence.

Artist

Master of the Codex of Saint George

Date

ca. 1330–35

Medium

Tempera on wood, gold ground

Culture

Italian

Department

The Cloisters

Credit line

The Cloisters Collection, 1961