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''Crucifix'' is a large, badly damaged distemper on wood painting by the Florentine painter and mosaicist Cimabue, dated to c. 1265, one of three surviving crucifixes attributed to him. It was commissioned by Franciscan monks at Santa Croce, Venice and built from a complex arrangement of five main and eight ancillary timber boards. The Crucifix is one of the first Italian artworks to break from the Byzantine style and is renowned for its technical innovations and humanistic iconography. Cimabue maintains the Byzantine tradition by retaining the rich gilding and monumentality of earlier works. The static pose of Christ similarly reflects this tradition while also adding newer, more naturalistic aspects. The Crucifix has hung in the Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence since the late thirteenth century. It consists of a lifelike and physically imposing depiction of the passion at Calvary. Christ is nearly naked, his eyes are closed, his face lifeless and defeated. His body slumps in rigor mortis, contorted by prolonged agony and pain. A graphic portrayal of human suffering, the painting is of seminal importance in art history and has influenced painters from Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Velasquez to Francis Bacon.〔In interview, Bacon said: "You know the great Cimabue ''Crucifixion''? I always think of that as a worm crawling down the cross." See Sylvester, 14〕 ==Influences and commission== Each of Cimabue's three exant crucifixes were commissioned by Franciscan orders. Founded by Saint Francis of Assisi, the order was reformist; his religious and social vision was to have a profound effect on the visual arts in the century after his death. The son of a wealthy cloth merchant, Francis abandoned the worldly life in his mid twenties to take up preaching. He venerated poverty and developed a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature. His ideals of simplicity and naturalism had a strong impact on 13th century iconography, infusing it with the new values of humanism.〔Kleinhenz, 224〕〔Paolettii, 49〕 Earlier Byzantine depictions tended to show Christ as invincible, even in death. He hung on the cross with eyes wide open, unblemished skin, and a body full of power: symbolic of everlasting life. This style, known as the ''Christus triumphans'' ("Triumphant Christ"), for contemporary, especially Franciscan, taste, lacked verisimilitude and bore little relation to the actual suffering likely endured during a crucifixion, and overly distanced the divine from the human aspect of Christ.〔Paolettii, 50〕〔Thompson, 61〕 From about 1240, painters favoured the ''Christus patiens'' ("Suffering Christ") style: a saviour who shared and carried the burden and pain of humanity. The Santa Croce ''Crucifix'' is one of the earliest and best known examples of the type. Contemporaries such as Dante believed that Giotto, Cimabue's pupil, developed and perfected the innovations of his master.〔Osbourne, 245〕 The church at Santa Croce was the third the Franciscans constructed at the site. It was begun in 1295, some 10–15 years after Cimabue completed his ''Crucfix'', which is believed to have been commissioned for the earlier church, where it probably hung over the altar or above the rood screen,〔 which would typically have contained a representation of the Crucifixion. At other times, it hung at the north transept, the sacristy and by the entrance on the southern flank.〔Jack, 492〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Crucifix (Cimabue, Santa Croce)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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