- Gallery Text
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This painting was most likely the central part of a portable tabernacle and dates to the artist’s early career. The angels sweeping in from the heavens bring drama and a sense of urgency to the composition, which is further intensified by the figures of Saints Clare and Francis, who strain their heads back to observe the turbulence above them. Their presence suggests that the work was commissioned by a Franciscan, whose order was particularly drawn to the veneration of the Crucifixion. The figures of the Virgin and Saint John frame the composition and serve as intercessors for the beholder. Pietro had strong connections with the Franciscans, and executed some of his most celebrated frescoes in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, the order’s mother church.
- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- 1943.119
- People
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Pietro Lorenzetti, Italian (active 1306-1348)
- Title
- Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saints Clare, John the Evangelist, and Francis
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting
- Date
- c. 1320
- Places
- Creation Place: Europe, Italy, Tuscany, Siena
- Culture
- Italian
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/222207
- Location
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Level 2, Room 2500, European Art, 13th–16th century, Art and Image in Europe
View this object's location on our interactive map - Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Tempera and gold leaf on panel
- Dimensions
- sight: 45.4 x 36.3 cm (17 7/8 x 14 5/16 in.)
frame: 55.5 x 45 cm (21 7/8 x 17 11/16 in.)
- Provenance
- Unidentified collection, sold [through Bernard Berenson]; to Grenville Lindall Winthrop, New York, 1918, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943
- Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.119
- Division
- European and American Art
- Contact
- am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
- THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Publication History
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Millard Meiss, "Nuovi dipinti e vecchi problemi", Rivista d'Arte (1955), vol. 30, no. 93, pp. 107-145, pp.113-118, repr. p. 114 as fig. 4
E. K. Waterhouse, "Some Notes on William Young Ottley's Collection of Italian Primitives", ed. Charles Peter Brand, W. Heffer (Cambridge, UK, 1962), pp. 277 and 279 as no. 50
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, A List of the Principal Artists and their Works with an Index of Places: Central and North Italian Schools, Phaidon (London, 1968), p. 216
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1972), p. 109
Everett Fahy, "Italian Painting Before 1500", Apollo (May 1978), vol. 107, no. 195, pp. 377-388, p. 384, repr. p. 383 as fig. 6
Hayden B.J. Maginnis, "Pietro Lorenzetti: A Chronology", The Art Bulletin (June 1984), vol. 66, no. 2, pp.183-211, pp. 196-197, 200, repr. p. 200 as fig. 22
Miklós Boskovits, "Considerations on Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti", Paragone. Arte. (1986), vol. 37, no. 439, pp. 3-16, pp. 4-5
Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 162, p. 144, repr.
Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990)
Keith Christiansen, "Paul Delaroche's Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti", Apollo (February 2003), vol. 157, pp. 8-14
Carl Brandon Strehlke, Italian Paintings 1250-1450 in the John G. Johnson Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA, 2004), p. 214
- Exhibition History
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An Exhibition of Italian Paintings and Drawings, Fogg Art Museum, 03/24/1939 - 04/15/1939
32Q: 2500 Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050
- Subjects and Contexts
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Google Art Project
- Related Works
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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu