The Crucifixion

Piero della Francesca's Crucifixion demonstrates his ability to apply his characteristically serene geometric formal language to the most emotionally demanding subject in Christian art. Rather than the anguished suffering that German and Flemish painters brought to the Crucifixion, Piero's Christ hangs with the calm acceptance of one for whom physical suffering is merely the necessary form through which divine purpose is accomplished. The figures of Mary and John flanking the cross are arranged with the spatial clarity and emotional restraint that distinguish Piero's entire oeuvre, the grief of the Passion transformed by his formal mastery into a meditation on transcendent order.

Piero's rigorous geometric construction and luminous, even lighting create a Crucifixion of extraordinary stillness and clarity, with broad, simplified forms and a palette dominated by clear blues, whites, and earth tones.