Artwork
Copy after The Crucifixion, Fra Angelico in the Museo di San Marco (Florence)
Copy after The Crucifixion, Fra Angelico in the Museo di San Marco (Florence) is a watercolor work on paper by the Impressionist artist Fra Angelico. It is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Back then, people were just starting to admire early Italian art.
This painting copies Fra Angelico’s fresco in Florence. It shows a wooden cross with a pale Jesus against a gold sky. Green hills curl behind him. Mary and John stand at the foot of the cross.
It’s a watercolor copy from 1864, made by Christian Schultz. The Arundel Society liked it so much they turned it into prints. Back then, people were just starting to admire early Italian art.
Try looking up Angelico, Fra next.
Overview
This watercolour is a 19th-century copy of Fra Angelico's 15th-century fresco The Crucifixion, originally located in the Convento di San Marco, Florence. Created by Christian Schultz in 1864, it reproduces the composition and key elements of the original work.
Subject & Meaning
The artwork depicts the Crucifixion of Jesus, with a pale figure on a wooden cross set against a golden sky, accompanied by Mary and John at the base, and green hills in the background. The scene reflects Fra Angelico's religious themes and Schultz's faithful reproduction of them.
Technique & Style
Executed in watercolour, Schultz's copy aims to replicate the characteristic use of colour and light found in Fra Angelico's frescoes, though the medium differs from the original mural painting.
History & Provenance
Commissioned by the Arundel Society (founded 1848), this copy was later published as a chromolithograph in 1872 (Museum No.25701). The original fresco was part of Fra Angelico's decorations for the Convento di San Marco in the 1440s.
Context
Created during a surge of interest in Italian 'primitives' (early Renaissance art) in the second half of the 19th century, this work contributed to the popularisation of Fra Angelico's and similar artists' oeuvres through the Arundel Society's reproductive efforts.
Artist & collection
Artist
Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (born Guido di Pietro; c. 1395 – 18 February 1455), known posthumously as Fra Angelico ( FRAH an-JEL-ik-oh, Italian: ), was an Italian Dominican friar and painter active during the early…
Copy after The Coronation of the Virgin, Fra Angelico in the Convent of San Marco (Florence)
Copy after The Transfiguration, Fra Angelico in the Museo di San Marco (Florence)
Copy after The Three Maries at the Sepulchre, Fra Angelico in the Museo di San Marco (Florence)
Copy after Calling of the Apostoles, Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican (Rome)
Watercolour, copy after Supper of St Dominic and Crucifixion with Saints, Giovanni Antonio Sogliani in the Convent of San Marco (Florence)
Copy after The Last Supper, Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Chiesa di Ognissanti (Florence)
Copy after <i>Virgin and Child</i>, Fra Bartolomeo in the Convent of San Marco (Florence)