(Florence active in the first half of the 15th Century)
Christ as Man of Sorrows with Symbols of the Passion,
tempera and gold on panel, 31 x 22.5 cm, integral frame

Provenance:
Private European collection

This small panel belongs to the production of an artist whose identity at present remains unknown but is conventionally referred to as the ‘Master of the Johnson Tabernacle’, named after a tabernacle formerly in the Johnson collection and now conserved in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. no. 2034a).

This anonymous artist was active in Florence in the mid-15th Century and was influenced by Bicci di Lorenzo, as well as Beato Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli. The present painting displays close analogies, both for its same subject, and in the way in which the figures and the halos are rendered, to a panel in the Musée du Petit Palais in Avignon, inv. no. 20253 (see: M. Laclotte/E. Mognetti, Catalogue of the Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon 1976, no. 261).

At the centre of the present painting Christ is represented as the Man of Sorrows as he emerges from the marble sarcophagus to reveal the marks of the Crucifixion. In the lower part of the composition, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and Saint John the Evangelist are shown mourning him. Meanwhile, in the upper section, symbols of the passion are depicted, according to an iconographic typology that was diffused in Florence from the mid-Trecento. From the upper left down, the mocking of Christ by the soldiers, the column of the Flagellation, the denial of Peter, the spear of Longinus, the cut ear of Malco and, on the extreme left, the ladder used for the Crucifixion and Deposition. Represented respectively on the right are the kiss of Judas, the torch, which alludes to the Capture, the spear with the sponge soaked in vinegar, the thirty gold coins of Judas, an unidentified male figure and the washed hands of Pilate. Seen on the cross are hammers, whips, the crown of thorns as well as the cockerel that alludes to the denial of Peter.

Technical analysis:

IR images of the present composition show a thin accurate under drawing probably made with a small brush. In a few areas, the drawing was substituted by incisions, such as in the Virgin’s cloak.

The hue of Christ’s body’s is due to a green earth-based under layer glazed by a pale white flesh tone principally containing lead white. Saint Mary Magdalen’s red cloak is made by vermillion and by a lead-tin yellow on its edge. Vermillion is used in all the bright red colours, while a coccid-based red lake constitutes Saint John’s and the Magdalen’s cloaks. The interesting discovery of both azurite and indigo in the Virgin’s dark blue cloak is probably due to an indigo glaze over an azurite first layer, with incisions instead of under drawing. The background would have been originally dark blue, originally, because it contains a lot of copper-based pigment, identified as azurite by vis-RS. The back of the panel is painted with a brown colour, in order to simulate a red-brown stone like porphyry.

We are grateful to Gianluca Poldi for the technical examination.