1 - LATE 15TH-CENTURY FLORENTINE SCHOOL

LATE 15TH-CENTURY FLORENTINE SCHOOL Christ on the Cross Panel, single plank, unparqueted This small-format panel illustrates the spread, in the late 15th century, of images of the Passion designed to inspire intimate contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice and its salvific significance. The most famous example is the Crucified Christ painted by Filippino Lippi for the central panel of the Valori Altarpiece, created between 1498 and 1500 for the Valori family chapel in the Church of San Procolo in Florence (B. Berenson, *The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance*, New York and London, 1909, p. 149). Dismantled during the Napoleonic era, the altarpiece was later partially reconstructed, and its central panel—acquired by the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin—was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1945. Lippi’s composition was produced in several variations within his workshop; two versions comparable in size are now housed at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven and the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Prato. According to Jonathan Nelson, these panels were likely intended for private devotion, constituting independent works rather than mere reductions of the original altarpiece (J.K. Nelson, Filippino Lippi, Milan 2004, pp. 566– 599). Our painting belongs to this group of small-format versions, inspired by the composition of the Pala Valori, produced in Filippino Lippi’s workshop and likely intended for private devotion. Dimensions: 15.5 × 11.9 cm