ALTICHIERO da Zevio
(b. ca. 1330, Zevio, d. ca. 1390, Verona)

Crucifixion

1376-79
Fresco, 840 x 280 cm
Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua

The Crucifixion above the altar extends across three of the five bays of the Chapel of San Giacomo, functioning as an enormous altarpiece. Although rich in anecdotal detail and portrait-like renderings, the fresco does not include the crosses of the two thieves who were crucified with Christ, concentrating instead on the central sacrifice. The cross is set in the foreground of a broadly coherent space which extends in greater and greater depth as it moves to either side, culminating in a hilltop castle on the far right and a firmly rendered and believably scaled pedestrian bridge, city gate, walls, and towers on the far left.