Description
The Crucifix of Santa Maria Novella is one of the fundamental works of Giotto's early career and one of the clearest demonstrations of the profound renewal he introduced into Italian painting at the end of the thirteenth century. The image belongs to the established tradition of large painted crosses intended to dominate a liturgical space, yet Giotto radically transforms the representation of Christ's body.
Instead of a more abstract or predominantly linear formula, he presents a body convincingly subjected to gravity: the torso sags, the arms bear its weight, the head falls forward and the bent legs convey the presence of a real human body that has suffered and died. This physical conception is one of the painting's principal innovations.
