croce astile
Bernardo Daddi·1350
Historical Context
Bernardo Daddi's processional cross (croce astile, c. 1350) at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan represents an important category of Gothic liturgical art that combined painting and sculpture in the service of public worship. Processional crosses were carried at the head of religious processions and placed on altars, serving as focal points of communal devotion. Bernardo Daddi was among the most accomplished Florentine painters of the generation after Giotto, known for his tender, graceful style that softened the master's monumental severity into a more intimate and lyrical mode.
Technical Analysis
Tempera and gold on a shaped wooden panel in the cruciform format of a processional cross. Daddi's technique features refined, delicate painting with soft modeling and gentle facial types, adapted to the distinctive format with terminal figures of the Virgin and Saint John at the cross's ends.
