Who painted The Crucifixion?

Andrea Mantegna painted The Crucifixion in 1457.

What Bible passage does The Crucifixion depict?

The Crucifixion depicts the biblical scene from Luke 23:26-47.

Where is The Crucifixion located?

The Crucifixion is housed at Musée du Louvre, Palais Royal, Paris.

The Crucifixion by Andrea Mantegna

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The Crucifixion was brought to the Louvre in 1798 and put on exhibition immediately. In 1806 two of the predella panels (the Mount of Olives and the Resurrection) were sent to the museum of Tours. In 1815 the central panel and the two wings were taken back to Italy and exhibited in the city museum at Verona. After 1918, they were returned to the church of San Zeno, where they still remain - though they are not very easy to see. The commission of 1815 charged with reclaiming the works of art taken from the Veneto left the predella panels in the possession of the Louvre and the museum of Tours.

The Crucifixion was in the middle of the predella, exactly in the centre, as may be seen in the full altarpiece image below. Mantegna was striving after an effect of steep visual perspective such as he had already achieved in the Eremitani chapel at Padua. The figures in the foreground, cut by the frame, increase the effect of recession; the vanishing lines of the ground are curved inwards and somehow contracted. The artist's feeling for nature is revealed by the minuteness with which he has represented every detail of the landscape. The accurate delineation of the Roman soldiers' equipment is evidence of an attitude to antiquity unknown in Florence at that period. Florentine artists sought to understand and emulate the aesthetic quality of antique sculpture and architecture, but cared little for historical exactitude, which Mantegna on the other hand pursued with the passionate devotion of an archaeologist. In fact, the Veneto was from the 14th century onwards, the chief Italian centre for the traffic in anticaglie - Venetian towns owned cabinets d'antiquités long before these were found in Florence.

Details

Artist: Andrea Mantegna
Created: 1457 - 1459
Medium: oil on panel
Dimension: 93cm × 67cm
Passage: Luke 23:26-47
Housed at: Musée du Louvre Palais Royal, Paris

Found in: Luke, Luke 23, 15th century, Crucifixion, San Zeno altarpiece

Luke 23:26-47

26 When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus.

27 A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.

28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29 For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

30 Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’

31 For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

32 There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.

33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

35 The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”

36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,

37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

38 An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

39 One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”

40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

43 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

45 The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

46 Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.

47 When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.”

Luke 23:26-47 · World English Bible

The artist

Andrea Mantegna

1431 - 1506

Isola di Carturo, Italy

Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431 – September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. He also led a workshop that was the leading producer of prints in Venice before 1500.