Full title | The Way to Calvary |
---|---|
Artist | Ugolino di Nerio |
Artist dates | documented 1317-27; died possibly 1329 |
Series | The Santa Croce Altarpiece |
Date made | possibly 1325-8 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on poplar |
Dimensions | 40.8 x 58.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1885 |
Inventory number | NG1189 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This panel was the central scene of the predella (the lowest part of the altarpiece below the main level) that Ugolino made for the church of Santa Croce in Florence. It shows Christ carrying the Cross to the site of his crucifixion as described in the Gospel of John (John 19: 17). His deep pink robe and the structure of the Cross anchor the scene.
Christ’s mother, the Virgin Mary, is the other prominent figure. She is shown, as was traditional, wearing a blue robe. It was painted with ultramarine, an expensive pigment which is bright blue when fresh, but which has a tendency to darken over time, as it has here. The soldiers' helmets have also darkened over time – they were once silver. Mary is accompanied by two other women, probably the female followers of Christ mentioned in the Gospels, both also called Mary. One of them, Mary Magdalene, was traditionally shown wearing red.
This is the central panel from the predella of Ugolino’s altarpiece for the church of Santa Croce in Florence. The predella ran along the bottom of the entire altarpiece and was, as was usual, originally painted on one horizontal panel. It was then cut into individual scenes. There are three others in our collection: The Betrayal of Christ, The Deposition and The Resurrection.
Christ has been stripped of the deep blue robe that he wore in the image showing his betrayal. Ugolino shows him carrying his cross to the site of his crucifixion, as described in the Gospel of John (John 19: 17), and includes the ‘great multitude of the people’ who follow Christ on his way (Luke 23: 27).
Christ’s deep pink robe and the structure of the Cross anchor the scene. The Virgin Mary, Christ’s mother, is the other prominent figure. She is accompanied by two other women, probably the female followers of Christ mentioned in the Gospels, both also called Mary; one of them, Mary Magdalene, was traditionally shown wearing red. The Virgin is shown, as was traditional, wearing a blue robe – it was painted with ultramarine, an expensive pigment which has a tendency to change colour over time, as it has here. The soldiers' helmets have also darkened over time – they were once silver.
Like The Betrayal of Christ, this composition is based upon Duccio’s image of the same subject made for the altarpiece known as the Maestà. Ugolino places the figure of Christ further to the right of the picture so that he has to turn back to look towards his mother, increasing the emotion of the moment. The Roman soldiers who arrested Jesus appear, armed with a variety of weapons to push Christ onward; on the other side, a servant pulls him by a rope tied around his neck. We also see the Jewish priests who were present at Christ’s arrest.
This panel was the central part of the predella. It was preceded by a scene of the Flagellation (now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and one of the Deposition. The Cross, placed centrally within the design of the panel, would have been situated below the figure of Christ enthroned shown on the central panel. That picture in turn was crowned with an image of the Crucifixion, absent from the predella series. This emphasis on the Cross was appropriate for the church – it was named after the Holy Cross.
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The Santa Croce Altarpiece
These panels were once part of a large altarpiece which adorned the high altar of the church of Santa Croce in Florence. It focused on the Passion of Christ (his torture and crucifixion) and the Resurrection – an appropriate theme, as the church was dedicated to the Holy Cross.
Drawings made in the late eighteenth century show how it was arranged originally. There were four tiers of images: the main tier had a central image of the Virgin and Child flanked by images of the saints within arches, which were decorated with angels (there are two sets of these in the National Gallery’s collection).
Above was a row of saints framed in pairs; we hold two pairs. The uppermost tier consisted of six pinnacle panels, three on either side of a central image which probably showed the Crucifixion, itself topped by an image of Christ making a blessing gesture. The predella (the lowest layer) consisted of seven scenes showing Christ’s suffering and death; we have four of these.
These panels were once part of a large altarpiece made by the Sienese painter Ugolino di Nerio for the high altar of the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. In 1566 it was removed and replaced with a Crucifix. The altarpiece focuses on the Passion of Christ (his torture and crucifixion) and the Resurrection – an appropriate theme, as the church was dedicated to the Holy Cross. The imagery of the altarpiece was a suitable backdrop to the church’s annual procession of a relic of the Cross.
Although the altarpiece was later dismantled and its panels are now in collections around the world, we have a good idea of how it looked originally. Drawings made in the late eighteenth century show the altarpiece when it was in the friary connected to the church. At that time, Ugolino’s signature was noted on the altarpiece’s frame. Technical analysis of the panels, carried out at the National Gallery, revealed where the panels were connected to each other, and proves the drawing must be an accurate representation of their original arrangement.
The main tier followed the conventional pattern for altarpieces in fourteenth-century Italy, with an image of the Virgin and Child placed centrally and flanked by images of saints (in this case, three on either side painted within pointed arches). The panel with the Virgin and Child does not survive, but three of the panels with saints are now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Angels were painted in the spandrels of each panel, and those once above Saint Louis of Toulouse and those once above Saint Francis are in our collection.
Above this main tier of images was another row of saints, smaller in scale and framed in six sets of pairs; Saints Bartholomew and Andrew and Saints Simon and Thaddeus are in our collection. The uppermost tier consisted of six pinnacle panels, three on either side of a central image which probably showed the Crucifixion, itself topped by a Blessing Redeemer (Christ making a blessing gesture). Three of the pinnacle panels – Isaiah, Moses and King David – are in our collection.
The lowest layer sat beneath the main tier: the predella. It was originally painted on one continuous piece of horizontal wood, but was later cut into seven individual scenes, all of which survive. We have four – The Betrayal of Christ, The Way to Calvary, The Deposition and The Resurrection – and three are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
There is no known dated painting by Ugolino. The altarpiece was probably commissioned by four brothers belonging to the Alamanni family; letters written to their descendants in the sixteenth century seem to refer to their coats of arms on the altarpiece, and the family seem to have had rights over the church’s high altar. It is likely to have been in position by 1326, the year that commemorated one hundred years since Saint Francis’s death, or 1328, the centenary of his canonisation.
There are differences in the quality of the painting between the predella panels in particular, which suggests the involvement of more than one artist. Indeed it was not unusual for a workshop of artists to collaborate on a work of this scale. Ugolino may have used his family workshop to complete this commission.










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