Processional Cross

Lorenzo Monaco, a Camaldolese monk and painter whose name means 'Lawrence the Monk,' created this processional cross around 1392 at the beginning of his distinguished career. Processional crosses were carried at the head of liturgical processions and were essential furnishings of every Gothic church, serving as mobile focal points for communal devotion. Lorenzo would become the leading Florentine painter of the early fifteenth century, bridging the Trecento tradition with the International Gothic style.

Tempera and gold on a shaped wooden cross panel, with the crucified Christ at center and mourning figures or saints at the terminal lobes. Lorenzo's early style combines Giottesque solidity with the elegant linear rhythms and refined color that would define his mature work.