In this artwork, how is the Crucifixion of the Description elucidated?
Compared to earlier works of this type, Christ's body is more physically corporeal, depicted as a real object, and his anatomy more closely rendered. His hands and feet seem to extend beyond the pictorial space, which is delineated by the flat, coloured borders of the cross, in turn made up of at least six boards. Both his body and semi-circular nimbus are placed at angles which rise outwards and above the level of the cross.His body arches, forcing his torso to raise against the cross. Blood pours from the wounds in his hands as his head falls to the side from fatigue and the physical reality of approaching death. His body is naked except for a sheer and transparent loincloth that only just covers his thighs and buttocks. The choice of a white, veil-like loincloth, dramatically more modest than the red garment in the Arezzo work, may be influenced by earlier crucifixions by Giunta Pisano. His nakedness highlights his vulnerability and suffering. It seems influenced by a thirteenth-century Franciscan Meditation on Christ that emphasised pathos and human interest in the suffering of the Passion; "Turn your eyes away from His divinity for a little while and consider Him purely as a man".
His eyes are open, and his skin is unblemished. The cross is painted with deep blue paint, perhaps evoking an eternal or timeless sky. This evocation, not present in the main crucified figure, was known as the Christus triumphans ("Triumphant Christ"), and for contemporary – especially Franciscan – taste lacked verisimilitude, as it bore little relation to the actual suffering likely endured during a crucifixion, and overly distanced the divine from the human aspect of Christ. From about 1240, painters favoured the Christus patiens ("Suffering Christ") style: a saviour who shared the burden and pain of humanity. The Santa Croce Crucifix is one of the earliest and best known examples of the type.The work surpasses Cimabue's c. 1268 Arezzo crucifix in several ways. It is more human and less reliant on idealised facial types, and the anatomy is more convincing. Christ's face is longer and narrower, and his nose less idealised. These features, according to art historian Robert Gibbs, give him "a coarser but more personal expression". A similar approach is taken with the cloth in the background of the cross itself, which although highly ornamented, lacks the lavish ornamentation of the equivalent cloth in the Arezzo cross.His head hangs in exhaustion, and his hands bleed from the puncture wounds suffered during his nailing to the cross. His arms are placed higher above his head and strain to carry the weight of his body, which visibly slumps. His body takes on a dramatic, almost feminine curve, the result of the contortions forced upon a body nailed to a vertical support.The painting contains elements typical of Cimabue's representations of Christ, including the illusionism of the drapery folds, the large halo, long flowing hair, dark, angular faces and dramatic expressions. But in other respects it conforms to the then strict iconography of the thirteenth century. Typical of depictions of the crucified Christ of this era, with his outstretched arms he is as wide as he is long, conforming to prevalent ideals of proportions.
Cimabue Santa Croce Christ loincloth crucifix Triumphant Christ closely rendered Pisa Christus patiens Arezzo crucifix Christus triumphans nimbus Giunta Pisano Crucifix Arezzo Suffering Christ halo