Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist

Painted around 1490 for a Venetian patron, this Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John is now at Birmingham's Barber Institute. The traditional three-figure Calvary composition was a staple of devotional art, and Cima infuses it with the calm luminosity and landscape sensitivity that set his work apart from more dramatic interpretations. Cima da Conegliano's devotional Madonnas are distinguished by the cool silvery light characteristic of his native Veneto, a quality that differentiates his work from the warmer tonality of his teacher Giovanni Bellini. Working in Conegliano and Venice from the 1480s until his death around 1517, he produced a steady stream of sacra conversazione altarpieces for churches and private patrons throughout the Veneto. His consistent quality and the recognizable elegance of his figure types made him the most trusted supplier of devotional altarpieces in northeastern Italy outside Venice itself.

Christ's body is silhouetted against a pale sky with a distant landscape stretching to the horizon, while the Virgin and John express restrained grief through carefully observed gestures and expressions.