The Crucifixion (polyptych, panel 3 of 5)

This central Crucifixion panel from a five-part polyptych by Bernardo Daddi, dated 1348, is among the last works produced by the artist before his death in the Black Death that struck Florence that year. As the central panel of the polyptych, the Crucifixion occupied the position of greatest liturgical importance, flanked by saints on the lateral panels. Daddi's death in the plague marked the end of the first great generation of Giottesque painting in Florence, and the artistic vacuum created by the pandemic would take decades to fill.

Executed in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the Crucifixion is composed with the symmetrical formality appropriate to the central panel of a polyptych altarpiece. The mourning figures are arranged at the foot of the cross with Daddi's characteristic combination of emotional restraint and devotional tenderness, rendered in his refined, soft-toned palette.