The Crucifixion

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, a prolific and influential Florentine painter of the late Trecento, created this Crucifixion around 1390 in the conservative Giottesque tradition that persisted in Florence well into the era of the International Gothic. Niccolò ran one of the largest workshops in Florence and was instrumental in transmitting the formal vocabulary of the Giotto-Orcagna tradition to the next generation. This panel in the Rijksmuseum represents the continuation of Florentine devotional painting at the close of the Gothic period.

Executed in tempera and gold on panel, the Crucifixion follows established Florentine compositional conventions with firmly drawn figures arranged symmetrically around the cross. Niccolò's conservative technique features clear contours, flat decorative gold grounds, and the solid, volumetric figure style derived from the Cione brothers' workshop tradition.