Alessandri Crucifixion

This relief was commissioned by the Alessandri family in1480 for the Chapel of the Stigmata in the Chiesa Maggiore at La Verna. The large altarpiece consisting of a single scene takes up the entire rear wall of the chapel, replacing fourteenth-century frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi and Jacopo del Casentino. The sacred representation is enclosed by a double frieze with winged heads of cherubim and symmetrical bunches of leaves and fruit. The grieving Sun and Moon above the cross are splendid masks.