The Art of the Cross

This is the work of Cimabue, the magnificent Crucifix hanging at San Domenico, Arezzo. It is extraordinary to note the modernity of the picture, and difficult to acknowledge that it was created in C13th. Cimbue is credited with having inspired modernists, including Francis Bacon.

Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470 – August 31, 1528), an important German Renaissance painter, whose most famous work is this the Isenheim Altarpiece, completed 1515, now in the Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar. This Crucifixion, is one of nine images of twelve panels, showing the harsh and unblemished depiction of the decay of Christ's body. The harshness of the picture is somewhat undermined by the finger of the figure on the right, which looks almost cartoonish.

Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dalí,1951, at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow.