The ''Mond Crucifixion'' or ''Gavari Altarpiece'' is an oil on poplar panel dated to 1502–1503, making it one of the earliest works by Italian Renaissance artist

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, perhaps the second after the c.1499-1500 Baronci Altarpiece. It originally comprised four elements, of which three survive, now all separated: a main panel of the ''Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels'' which was bequeathed to the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

, by Ludwig Mond, and a three-panel

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

from which one panel is lost; the two surviving panels are ''Eusebius of Cremona raising Three Men from the Dead with Saint Jerome's Cloak'' in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, and ''Saint Jerome saving Silvanus and punishing the Heretic Sabinianus'' in the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Background

This early work by Raphael was commissioned by the wool merchant Domenico Gavari as the

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

for his burial chapel in the south aisle of the church of San Domenico in

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. T ...

, in

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, near Raphael's home town of

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

. The side chapel was dedicated to

Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...

, where most of the painting's original '' pietra serena'' stone frame survives including the inscribed date 1503. Gavari was an associate of Andrea Baronci, for whom Raphael had already made the Baronci Altarpiece. Gavari's first son Girolamo (Jerome) died young.

Main panel

The main panel portrays the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...

, against a background of hills in the Umbrian countryside, with a view of Città di Castello in the distance.

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

looks peaceful even as he is dying on the cross, crowned with thorns and clad only in a loincloth that has an unusual red colour. Above, a sun in

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

and moon in silver leaf appear together in the sky. Two angels with flowing robes and scrolling ribbons at their waists, one floating to either side of the cross, are using gold chalices similar to communion vessels to catch the blood dripping from Jesus' nail-pierced hands and spurting from the wound in his side. To the proper right (Jesus' left) kneels

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, with

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how ...

standing behind her. To the proper left (Jesus' right) his mother Mary stands behind the kneeling

, who is holding a stone with which the hermit would piously beat his own chest. The two kneeling figures are both reverently contemplating Jesus on the cross, while the two standing figures are wringing their hands while looking out at the viewer. A panel at the top of the cross bears the inscription "

INRI In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews, both at the beginning of his life and at the end. In the Koine Hellenic of the New Testament, e.g., in John 19:3, this is written as ''Basileus ton Ioudaion'' (). Both uses o ...

", while the foot of the cross bears a Latin inscription in silver letters: "RAPHAEL/ VRBIN / AS /.P. NXIT/small>" ("Raphael of Urbino painted this"). The work is lit from the left, consistent with the illumination of the altarpiece by the windows in the chapel. The main panel measures and is now housed in a 19th-century frame. The geometrical precision of the composition suggest it was laid out using a grid, using a rule and compasses to copy from a preparatory drawings. A drawing of a kneeling person, perhaps a study for the figure of Mary Magdalene, is held by the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

in Oxford. The painting was influenced by

Perugino Pietro Perugino ( ; ; born Pietro Vannucci or Pietro Vanucci; – 1523), an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael became his most famous ...

, whom Raphael knew while living in

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. It is similar to Perugino's c.1502 Monteripido Altarpiece, made the convent of San Francesco al Monte at Monteripido near Perugia, a similar crucifixion scene which has two similar angels with ribbons catching the blood of Jesus is chalices, accompanied by four figures, two standing and two kneeling, including the Virgin Mary, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene, but the fourth is

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

rather than Saint Jerome. In the Mond Crucifixion, Raphael has used Perugino's technique of cross-hatched shadows, but also used his fingers to smear and soften the wet paint in places, leaving some detectable fingerprints.

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

later famously commented that no one would have believed it was painted by Raphael rather than Perugino if he had not signed it.

Predella

The two surviving panels of the predella each measure approximately and depict miracles from the life story of Saint Jerome from the ''Hierominianum'' of Giovanni d'Andrea. Saint Jerome lived in the late 4th and early 5th century AD, so he could not have attended the crucifixion, but he is portrayed here as the patron saint of the chapel. One of the surviving predella panels has been in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in

since 1866. It depicts ''Eusebius of Cremona raising Three Men from the Dead with Saint Jerome's Cloak'' Eusebius of Cremona was a close associate and active supporter of Jerome against the teachings of

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

. The other surviving predella panel is in the North Carolina Museum of Art in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. It depicts ''Saint Jerome saving Silvanus and punishing the Heretic Sabinianus''. Saint Jerome is holding back the arm of the executioner ready to behead bishop Silvanus, but the heretic Sabinianus has been miraculously decapitated instead. File:Rafael - Milagre de Santo Eusébio de Cremona-1.jpg, ''Eusebius of Cremona raising Three Men from the Dead with Saint Jerome's Cloak'', Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga,

File:Raffaello Sanzio - St. Jerome Punishing the Heretic Sabinian.jpg, ''Saint Jerome saving Silvanus and punishing the Heretic Sabinianus'', North Carolina Museum of Art,

Provenance

The main panel was bought by Cardinal Fesch in 1808 for 2500 scudi, and replaced in the chapel by a copy. At the Fesch sale in 1845, it was sold to the Principe di Canino, and quickly bought by Lord Ward (later Earl of Dudley). It was then in several English collections, and eventually acquired by Ludwig Mond in 1892, after whose death in 1909 it was acquired by the National Gallery in 1924. The predella panels seem to have been removed in the 17th century, and given as gifts to a visiting cardinal. The panel in North Carolina was formerly in the collection of Sir Francis Cook at Doughty House,

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

Painting materials

The main panel was analyzed in the National Gallery London and the typical

pigments A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...

of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period were identified. He painted the Crucifixion among other pigments with natural

ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...

lead-tin-yellow Lead-tin yellow is a yellow pigment, of historical importance in oil painting, sometimes called the "Yellow of the Old Masters" because of the frequency with which it was used by those famous painters. Nomenclature The name lead-tin yellow is ...

verdigris Verdigris () is a common name for any of a variety of somewhat toxic copper salt (chemistry), salts of acetic acid, which range in colour from green to a blue-green, bluish-green depending on their chemical composition.H. Kühn, Verdigris and Cop ...

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

and

ochres Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

.Raphael, The Mond Crucifixion
ColourLex

References

Sources

''The Mond Crucifixion'', Raphael
National Gallery, London * Henry, Tom
"Raphael's Altar-Piece Patrons in Città Di Castello"
''The Burlington Magazine'', vol. 144, no. 1190, 2002, pp. 268–278

External links

* {{Raphael Paintings in the National Gallery, London Paintings by Raphael Paintings of the Crucifixion of Jesus

Angels in art

Altarpieces Paintings in the National Museum of Ancient Art Paintings in the North Carolina Museum of Art