Crucifixion of Christ

The Master of San Martino alla Palma takes his name from a polyptych in the church of San Martino alla Palma near Florence, and his Crucifixion belongs to the tradition of devotional Crucifixion panels produced for Florentine churches and private chapels in the early fourteenth century. The work predates the plague of 1348, which would transform Florentine religious art toward greater emotional intensity. In the pre-plague period, Crucifixion iconography follows Cimabue and Giotto's models: Christ on the cross with the Virgin and John flanking, the figure rendered with measured anatomical schematism rather than the anguished expressionism of the post-plague period.

The panel is executed in egg tempera over a gesso ground with gold leaf background — the standard Florentine Trecento technique. The Crucifixion follows the format of Cimabue and his school: Christ's body has the gentle S-curve introduced by Nicola Pisano into Italian Passion imagery. Drapery on the flanking figures is rendered with the parallel diagonal hatching of the Byzantine-Florentine transitional tradition.