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'The Dream of the Virgin'
about 1365-1380
Simone dei Crocefissi
about 1330 - 1399
L1030
Room 53
'The Dream of the Virgin' by Simone dei Crocefissi is currently on display at the National Gallery.
This unusual and beautiful painting is on loan to the Gallery for three years from the Society of Antiquaries of London. It is the first work by this Italian Renaissance artist to be exhibited in the permanent collection. There are very few works by early Bolognese artists in the National Gallery, so this loan will add a new dimension to the collection of early Renaissance art in the Sainsbury Wing.
'The Dream of the Virgin' is thought to have been made as part of an altarpiece for a Bolognese church. The painting shows the Virgin lying asleep, possibly on her deathbed, while a companion at the foot of the bed reads to her. Above her, Christ is crucified not on the cross, but on a golden Tree of Life that rises from the Virgin's womb. Below her, a hand reaching down from the bed opens the gates of Limbo to release Adam and Eve.
The extraordinary iconography of the Tree of Life was once hidden by a layer of re-gilding and overpainted to give the work the appearance of a more conventional Crucifixion scene. When the paint and non-original gold were removed in 1994 by conservators at the Courtauld Institute, they discovered this rare image. The Tree of Life symbolises the Virgin's role in the process of Redemption through the crucifixion.
Although he worked entirely in Bologna, Simone dei Crocefissi had extensive knowledge of contemporary Italian painting. He was enormously prolific (some 70 works survive) and dominated Bolognese art during the period 1359-1410, through his own work and through other artists with whom he was associated. The culmination of Simone's later career was four great crucifixes, from which his nickname was derived.
'The Dream of the Virgin' is one of only three works by this artist on public display in the UK. Over the past 600 years, it has been seen in public only once, when it was shown in its restored state for three days in November 2003 as part of National Chemistry Week, at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Tempera on wood, 56.5 x 42.5 cm
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