This painted crucifix shows Christ on both sides, alive on one and dead on the other. He is surrounded by the Virgin Mary, saints, and evangelists. The double-sided decoration indicates that this object was meant to be seen from various angles when carried in processions or displayed during mass. Orioli may have painted it for the Franciscan confraternity (brotherhood) of San Girolamo in Siena, which he joined in 1481.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Obverse
Reverse
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Processional Crucifix
Artist:Pietro di Francesco Orioli (Italian, Siena 1458–1496 Siena)
Date:ca. 1480s
Medium:Tempera on wood, gold ground
Dimensions:Overall 21 1/4 x 18 1/2 in. (54 x 47 cm); painted surface 18 5/8 x 14 in. (47.3 x 35.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Bequest of Michael Dreicer, 1921
Object Number:22.60.61
There is no record of this remarkably well-preserved crucifix prior to 1902, when it belonged to the Florentine dealer Stefano Bardini. Painted on both sides, it could be carried in processions or set on an altar. As was customary, on the obverse Christ is still alive, with open eyes, while on the reverse he is dead, with closed eyes. The terminals on the obverse depict the Virgin (left), and Saints John the Evangelist (right), Jerome (top), and Francis (bottom). The terminals on the reverse depict the other three Evangelists—Luke (left), Mark (right), and Matthew (top)—and Saint Bernardino (bottom). A Sienese and promoter of the Franciscan Observant movement, Bernardino (1380–1444) was the most famous preacher of the fifteenth century.
Prior to 1982, the cross was attributed alternatively to Guidoccio Cozzarelli (1450–1516/17) or Giacomo Pacchiarotti (1474–1540); however, in 1982 Alessandro Angelini demonstrated that the body of works ascribed to Pacchiarotti was, instead, by an older artist who has now assumed a place of key importance for the history of Sienese painting in the second half of the fifteenth century. The confusion with Cozzarelli is explained by the fact that Orioli trained in the same workshop—that of Matteo di Giovanni. He was clearly something of a prodigy, since there is a payment to him for work at the Hospital of the Scala in 1474, when he was sixteen years old. His earliest works have been confused with those of Cozzarelli, but are invariably softer in their modeling and show a greater mastery of space and figural construction. In response to Angelini’s groundbreaking articles (published in successive issues of Prospettiva, nos. 29 and 30), Keith Christiansen (then curator of Italian painting at the Museum) changed the attribution of this crucifix. Since Orioli joined the Franciscan confraternity of San Girolamo in Siena in 1481 and remained a member until his death, and given the presence of the Franciscan saints Francis and Bernardino, Christiansen suggested that the crucifix was probably painted for the confraternity shortly after Orioli joined it in 1481.
Keith Christiansen 2012
Inscription: Inscribed (obverse and reverse): ·I·N·R·I·
[Stefano Bardini, Florence, by 1902–18; his sale, Christie's, London, May 30, 1902, no. 542, as Italian, fifteenth-century, for £35 to Fraser, ?bought in; his sale, American Art Association, New York, April 24, 1918, no. 250, as Florentine, fifteenth-century, for $100 to Brummer]; [T. Brummer, New York, 1918]; Michael Dreicer, New York (1918–d. 1921)
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 99, ill. (obverse), attributes it to an unknown Sienese painter of the late 15th century; relates it to a predella in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, then thought to be by Pacchiarotti (no. 421; now attributed to Orioli).
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 52.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 58, 288, 379, 393, 606, as by Cozzarelli.
Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sienese and Central Italian Schools. New York, 1980, p. 57, pls. 82 (obverse), 83 (reverse), attribute it to Pacchiarotti and tentatively date it about 1490–95.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 65, ill. (obverse and reverse).
Mojmír S. Frinta. "Part I: Catalogue Raisonné of All Punch Shapes." Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting. Prague, 1998, p. 223, classifies a punch mark appearing in this painting; attributes it to Orioli.
Gerardo de Simone inBeato Angelico: L'alba del Rinascimento. Ed. Alessandro Zuccari et al. Exh. cat., Musei Capitolini, Rome. Milan, 2009, p. 222, under no. 31, mentions it as by Pacchiarotti.
The original pedestal of the crucifix was removed by the Department of Paintings in 1935. [J. L. Allen]
Francesco Francia (Italian, Bologna ca. 1447–1517 Bologna)
1510
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.