In this horizontal painting, a crowd of more than two dozen men and women gathered shoulder to shoulder at the foot of three men hanging from wooden crosses nearly fill the scene. All the people have pale or ruddy skin. To our left of center, each of the crucified men is tied and nailed to a cross. Blood pours from their hands and feet, and from a gash over the central man’s right ribs. The men’s heads slump and their bodies sag. They are nude except for a red cloth across the central man’s hips and a small white loincloth on the man to our right. Two of the men wear crowns of thorns. The spear piercing the central man’s side is held by a man riding a white horse in the crowd below. At least three additional men in the crowd are on horseback. Many of the men are armed with spears, creating a bristle of vertical and diagonal lines over the group. The men and women wear robes and uniforms in shades of golden yellow, pine green, crimson and rust red, black, and cream white. A few men wear metal helmets, and one wears armor. Near the lower left corner, a woman wearing a navy-blue robe has fainted and is supported by two kneeling women while another woman and cleanshaven man look on, their fingers interlaced and held low. The smooth ground is grass green. A spindly tree with dark green leaves grows up the right side of the composition. Off in the distance beyond the tree, two buildings hint at a city. Blue clouds billow in the blue sky above.

The Crucifixion

Luca Signorelli

In this horizontal painting, a crowd of more than two dozen men and women gathered shoulder to shoulder at the foot of three men hanging from wooden crosses nearly fill the scene. All the people have pale or ruddy skin. To our left of center, each of the crucified men is tied and nailed to a cross. Blood pours from their hands and feet, and from a gash over the central man’s right ribs. The men’s heads slump and their bodies sag. They are nude except for a red cloth across the central man’s hips and a small white loincloth on the man to our right. Two of the men wear crowns of thorns. The spear piercing the central man’s side is held by a man riding a white horse in the crowd below. At least three additional men in the crowd are on horseback. Many of the men are armed with spears, creating a bristle of vertical and diagonal lines over the group. The men and women wear robes and uniforms in shades of golden yellow, pine green, crimson and rust red, black, and cream white. A few men wear metal helmets, and one wears armor. Near the lower left corner, a woman wearing a navy-blue robe has fainted and is supported by two kneeling women while another woman and cleanshaven man look on, their fingers interlaced and held low. The smooth ground is grass green. A spindly tree with dark green leaves grows up the right side of the composition. Off in the distance beyond the tree, two buildings hint at a city. Blue clouds billow in the blue sky above.

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Luca Signorelli
Date
c. 1504/1505
Medium
tempera, oil, and gilding on panel
Dimensions
overall: 72.5 × 101.3 cm (28 9/16 × 39 7/8 in.) framed: 94.93 × 123.67 × 11.43 cm (37 3/8 × 48 11/16 × 4 1/2 in.)
Department
CIS-R
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

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Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Samuel H. Kress Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

11 tags

Subject Matter

  • Bible Story Metadata · 99%

    The canonical title is The Crucifixion, and the National Gallery of Art description identifies three men hanging from wooden crosses.

  • Crowds Visual · 99%

    More than two dozen figures are visibly gathered across the foreground and middle ground in a tightly packed crowd.

  • Violence Visual · 95%

    The scene visibly depicts bodily violence through the crucified figures, wounds, blood, and the surrounding execution setting.

  • Nude Visual · 98%

    Three prominently displayed figures are nude or nearly nude, wearing only a red cloth or small loincloths.

  • Human Figure Visual · 99%

    The composition is dominated by human bodies in varied positions, including crucified figures, standing and mounted figures, kneeling mourners, and supporting figures.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Metadata · 99%

    The work is classified by the National Gallery of Art as a painting.

  • Tempera Metadata · 99%

    The documented medium is tempera, oil, and gilding on panel; tempera is therefore directly supported as one of the media used.

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 98%

    The catalog explicitly lists oil among the media used in the work.

  • Oil on Panel Metadata · 99%

    The catalog specifies that the work is made on panel, with oil included among its media.

  • Gold Leaf and Gilding Metadata · 97%

    The documented medium explicitly includes gilding, although the catalog does not identify the specific gilded passages.

Time Periods

  • 16th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog dates the work to c. 1504/1505, placing it in the sixteenth century.

Source & rights

Luca Signorelli. The Crucifixion. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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