The Crucifixion

Paolo Veneziano

National Gallery of Art

At least eleven people gather around a man hanging from a wooden cross, all against a gold background in this nearly square painting. The people have pale skin tinged heavily with gray, and pink on the cheeks. At the center of the composition, the man, Jesus, hangs from nails driven into the cross through his palms and feet. His thin body is covered only by a sheer loincloth across his hips. His knees angle to our left, and his head tips in that direction. He has a beard and auburn-brown, shoulder-length hair. His eyes are closed under furrowed brows. A gold halo surrounds his head and has red lines radiating to the red outline of the disk. The letters “INRI” appear on a panel on top of the cross. Three small, winged angels, like miniature people, catch vibrant red blood spurting or trickling from Jesus’s two palms and a gash over his right ribs in gold bowls. A fourth angel clasps hands in prayer. The angels have brown or blond hair, gold halos, and cobalt-blue robes and wings. A woman with long, curly, copper-colored hair kneels at the base of the cross, holding Jesus’s bleeding feet. To our left, a woman wearing lapis-blue swoons into the arms of two women who wear hoods and robes in marigold orange or nickel gray. All four women have gold halos, as do two of the four men standing together to our right. One of those men has short, copper-blond hair and wears a blue robe. His cloak is rose pink on one side and green on the other. He holds his small hands together in prayer and looks up at Jesus in profile. The other three men wear helmets and armored breastplates. One of them, at the front of that trio, has a halo and he points up at Jesus. The hand and torso of another person is visible along the right edge of this group, but the upper body has been lost. The cross sits on a low, rocky rise over a small cavern holding a skull. The ground around the cross and groups is carnation pink. A crenelated, turquoise-colored wall, about elbow height, runs across the back of the scene. The glimmering gold background is worn in some areas, revealing the red ground beneath the gold leaf.