TIZIANO Vecellio
(b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia)

Crucifixion

c. 1555
Oil on canvas, 214 x 109 cm
Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial

Particularly impressive about this painting are the wonderful colours and the modulated lights on the body of Christ, as well as the carefully painted landscape, which is a rare feature in Titian's late work. The ruins, the city in the background, and the marvellous colours of the hills are reminiscent of Veronese's early landscapes. The cross, isolated in front of the broad landscape, gives the painting a timeless quality that emphasizes its devotional function. The work's theme is not the moment of the crucifixion, but the loneliness of death.




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