The crucified Christ is shown according to the model conceived by Giotto, with his lifeless body weighting on his bent knees, and held in place by the nails in his hands and feet. The natural depiction of the abandoned body is accentuated by the position of the head and bust, both of which are tilting forwards. To the sides, Mary and St. John the Evangelist contemplate the Saviour, hands joined together in a gesture of prayer and sorrow. Above the cross is a figure of a pelican feeding its young and blood from its breast, an allegory of Christ dying to redeem humanity. The man who commissioned the piece, painted at the bottom, was perhaps a wealthy parishioner from San Piero Scheraggio, a mediaeval church incorporated into the Uffizi palace, where the Cross hung until 1782.
Description is from Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi.
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