painted crucifix

This painted crucifix by Corso di Buono, dating to around 1300 and housed in the Museum of Santa Verdiana in Castelfiorentino, belongs to the venerable Italian tradition of monumental painted crosses that hung above church altars or from nave ceilings. Corso di Buono was a Florentine painter active in the late Duecento and early Trecento, working in the transitional period between the Byzantine-influenced style of Cimabue and the naturalistic revolution of Giotto. Painted crucifixes were among the most important devotional objects in Italian churches, serving as the focal point for congregational prayer.

Executed in egg tempera and gold on a shaped wooden panel cut to the form of the cross, the figure of Christ is rendered with the curved body posture and expressive suffering that characterized the Christus patiens type favored in late medieval Italy. Terminal panels at the cross ends likely depict the mourning Virgin and Saint John.