{"product_id":"crucifixion-mond-raphael","title":"Crucifixion Mond ","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis extraordinary painting by Raphael was originally an altarpiece located in the church of San Domenico, Città di Castello, near Urbino, the artist’s hometown. It shows the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist on either side of the cross. \u003ca title=\"paintings of Saint Jerome\" href=\"https:\/\/kuadros.com\/search?type=product\u0026amp;q=NOT+tag%3A__gift+AND+jeronimo*\"\u003eSaint Jerome\u003c\/a\u003e and Mary Magdalene are kneeling before them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the painter’s earliest works, this altarpiece was commissioned by the wool merchant and banker Domenico Gavari for his funerary chapel dedicated to Saint Jerome.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the painting, Christ’s body hangs from the cross. Two angels hover over delicate wisps of cloud on either side, gathering the blood flowing from his wounds into golden chalices reminiscent of those used to serve wine during Mass at the altar below.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sun and moon are visible in the sky, marking the eclipse that coincided with Christ’s death. Saint Jerome and Mary Magdalene stand at the foot of the Cross, looking up at Christ’s body with reverence and devotion. The Virgin, dressed in violet-black to signify mourning, stands to the left of the Cross, with John the Evangelist on the right. Both face the viewer, wringing their hands in grief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArt can make something terrible seem beautiful. That skill is also evident in Crucifixion Mond. The painting softens the pain and suffering Christ endured on the cross. Jesus is shown immaculate and peaceful, except for the wounds in his feet, hands, and side. Raphael emphasizes Christ’s perfection in keeping with the High Renaissance style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the work, atmospheric perspective and the landscape reveal the Perugino style that Raphael followed. Rather than focusing on the painful and horrifying nature of Christ’s death, it reinforces the doctrine of transubstantiation, serving as a symbolic representation of blood for the Eucharist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrucifixion Mond was analyzed at the London-based art museum, the National Gallery. There, the typical pigments of the Renaissance period were identified.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRaphael painted his work with pigments including ochres, vermilion, verdigris, lead-tin yellow, and natural ultramarine. Red carries strong meaning here. Each figure in the painting has a touch of red. All the figures are pictorially touched and redeemed by the blood of Christ.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOther colors, in turn, also connect the elements of the painting. Colors in the image are repeated in its lower half. For example, the blue of the sky is echoed in the clothing worn by Saint Jerome, and the green in the clothing of one of the two angels is also present in Saint John’s garments.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\u003cp\u003eJerome was not present at the Crucifixion, but he is included in this scene because the chapel was dedicated to him. He gestures toward the Cross and holds the stone with which he beat his breast while living as a hermit in the desert. The miracles that took place after Christ’s death were painted in the predella scenes (the lower painted panel shown beneath the main panel of the altarpiece). Two predella panels survive at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, and the National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon. Originally, there was probably at least one additional panel. Gavari himself may have chosen to dedicate the altarpiece to Saint Jerome, since he also named his firstborn Girolamo (Jerome in Italian).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe altarpiece is strongly influenced by Perugino, the leading artist in central Italy at the time, with whom Raphael developed a close artistic relationship while living in Perugia. The overall design is based on several versions of the Crucified Christ in a landscape painted by Perugino in the late 1480s and 1490s, and is especially similar to his Crucifixion altarpiece for the convent of S. Francesco al Monte in Perugia, commissioned in 1502 and completed in 1506.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn that painting, angels with fluttering ribbons hold chalices to catch the blood from Christ’s wounds; the Virgin and the Evangelist are almost identical to those in Raphael’s work, and Mary Magdalene is in the same pose, only reversed on the other side of the Cross. Raphael probably saw Perugino’s works in his workshop in Perugia before they were unveiled. In addition to adopting Perugino’s sweet oval faces with delicate features and the stylized gestures of the figures’ hands, Raphael took from Perugino’s works the principles of symmetry, harmony, and compositional clarity. He did, however, adapt them, giving them greater softness and sophistication. Here, though, it is not entirely clear who copied whom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his early works, Raphael usually based his compositions on a simple geometric grid incised into the panel to help transfer his drawing, as we can see in the Ansidei Madonna. No grid is visible in the Mond Crucifixion, although the strong symmetry and geometric structure of the image suggest that Raphael may initially have used a similar method to lay out his composition. He used a ruler and compass to incise the outline of the Crucifix, and a compass to incise the sun and moon. The way he left unpainted areas for the figures and made no revisions or changes while painting suggests that he was working from a carefully prepared design in a detailed drawing. During this period, Raphael often used dark, shaded brushwork to reinforce shadowed areas, a technique derived from Perugino, which is particularly noticeable here in the draperies. Raphael also used his hands and fingers to smooth and model the paint on the wet surface. His fingerprints and palms are visible in the shadows of the heads, especially in Christ’s hair, face, and beard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRaphael scratched the brown paint at the foot of the Cross down to a layer of silver leaf beneath in order to sign the painting: Raphael \/ VRBIN \/ AS \/.P.[INXIT] (\"Raphael of Urbino painted this\"). Vasari commented that if Raphael had not signed the painting, no one would have believed that he, and not Perugino, had painted it.\u003c\/p\u003e ","brand":"Raphael","offers":[{"title":"70X42","offer_id":52588594528537,"sku":"crucifixio135","price":175.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"140X85","offer_id":52588594561305,"sku":"crucifixio270","price":351.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"283X167 Tamaño original","offer_id":52588594594073,"sku":"crucifixio540","price":702.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/9628\/3224\/files\/pintura-Crucifixion-Mond-KUADROS.jpg?v=1683783653","url":"https:\/\/kuadros.com\/products\/mond-crucifixion-7","provider":"KUADROS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}