Currently not on view
Mystical Crucifixion: the Four Doctors of the Church and Saint Paul contemplating the Crucifixion,
1445
identified as Joan Rosato — an artist from Majorca. Rosato was probably trained, was surely active, and is known to have died in Italy, which may account for the confusion. The crisp, dry forms of the figures and the supernatural vision, however, partake of a Spanish aesthetic and mystic strain, and make the new attribution more satisfactory. Although the panel has been considered a devotional image for a layman, its iconography is unique and erudite. The Crucifixion is situated on a hill so barren and desert-like that, besides the skull of Adam, only ants are seen, coming and going from the anthill. Traces of a horse’s hooves betray the recent presence of a horseman, possibly Longinus, the traditional name for the centurion who pierced Christ’s side and who is often shown on horseback in Crucifixion scenes. Four church fathers, the four doctors who founded the Roman Catholic theological tradition, hover on clouds around Christ: the first, Gregory the Great, is shown as pope; the next two, Ambrose and Augustine, as bishops; and the last, Jerome, anachronistically, as a cardinal. The apostle Paul, pointing to Christ, holds a Bible open to the Letter to the Colossians 2:3: "In whom are held all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." A scroll in front of Christ is inscribed: "I am the Homeland and the Way." Sacred imagery of this type was intended to stimulate devotion and pious reflection in Christian viewers, whether laypersons or clerics.
More Context
Handbook Entry
Long considered a Sienese painting and attributed to Vecchietta or Matteo di Giovanni, this panel was recently reattributed to the Master of the Predellas —<br>identified as Joan Rosato — an artist from Majorca. Rosato was probably trained, was surely active, and is known to have died in Italy, which may account for the confusion. The crisp, dry forms of the figures and the supernatural vision, however, partake of a Spanish aesthetic and mystic strain, and make the new attribution more satisfactory. Although the panel has been considered a devotional image for a layman, its iconography is unique and erudite. The Crucifixion is situated on a hill so barren and desert-like that, besides the skull of Adam, only ants are seen, coming and going from the anthill. Traces of a horse’s hooves betray the recent presence of a horseman, possibly Longinus, the traditional name for the centurion who pierced Christ’s side and who is often shown on horseback in Crucifixion scenes. Four church fathers, the four doctors who founded the Roman Catholic theological tradition, hover on clouds around Christ: the first, Gregory the Great, is shown as pope; the next two, Ambrose and Augustine, as bishops; and the last, Jerome, anachronistically, as a cardinal. The apostle Paul, pointing to Christ, holds a Bible open to the Letter to the Colossians 2:3: "In whom are held all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." A scroll in front of Christ is inscribed: "I am the Homeland and the Way." Sacred imagery of this type was intended to stimulate devotion and pious reflection in Christian viewers, whether laypersons or clerics.
Information
1445
Europe, Florence
Notes
[1] Dan Fellows Platt left his collections to the University but gave his wife life-tenure and the right to sell
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Erica Susanna Trimpi, Matteo di Giovanni: documents and a critical catalogue of his panel paintings, (Ann Arbor, MI: Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1987).
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- El Renacimiento mediterráne: viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV: Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, del 31 de enero al 6 de mayo de 2001, Valencia Museu de Belles Arts de València, del 18 de mayo al 2 de septiembre de 2001, (Madrid: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2001)., p. 245-48, cat. no. 50, p. 347 (illus.)
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Andrea de Marchi, ""The Mystical Crucifixion" at Princeton and evidence for the Sienese education of Joan Rosató," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 62 (2003): 32–45.
, p. 32, fig. 1; p. 36, fig. 5; p. 37, fig. 10; p. 38, fig, 12 - Norman E. Muller, "Technical Note," Princeton University Art Museum 62 (2003): 46–49., p. 47, fig. 4
- Betsy Rosasco, "The Mystical Crucifixion: A Dominican Picture?," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 62 (2003): 50–67., p. 50, fig. 1
- Daniel Arasse, Le détail: pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture, (Paris: Flammarion, 2008)., p. 124, fig. 130
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- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 121
- Alfred Acres, Renaissance invention and the haunted infancy, (London; Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2013).
