Portrait of Urban V

Simone dei Crocifissi's Portrait of Urban V at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna is a rare example of Gothic papal portraiture, depicting the French-born pope who briefly returned the papacy from Avignon to Rome in 1367-1370. Such portraits served political and devotional functions, legitimizing papal authority during the troubled years of the Avignon papacy and the Great Schism. Bologna, as a papal city governed by legates, had particular reason to display images of the reigning pontiff.

Executed in tempera on gold ground panel, the portrait combines the conventions of sacred icon painting with elements of naturalistic portraiture. Simone renders the papal tiara and vestments with meticulous detail while giving the face an individualized character unusual for the period.