CIMABUE
(b. ca. 1240, Firenze, d. ca. 1302, Firenze)

Crucifixion

1277-80
Fresco, 350 x 690 cm
Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi

This large Crucifixion fresco is located on the east wall of the south transept. Its grand pathos surpasses anything of its time. In its overall structure and in several motivic details, it reveals points of contact with the slightly older relief of the Crucifixion by Nicola Pisano. The powerful form and dynamic posture of the crucified Christ towers over the groups of mourning and watching figures; they keep some distance from the cross thus leave sufficient room for the particularly expressive gestures of the figures closest to the cross.