The Crucifixion

The Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist gaze in anguish at Jesus on the cross. Carlo Crivelli enhanced the morbidness of the scene by depicting Jesus as emaciated and puffy-eyed, his mouth agape, with blood dripping from his wounds. As subtle hints towards his eventual victory over death, wind animates his loincloth and inflates the sail of a boat in the distance, while verdant plants shoot up from cracks in the rocky, arid terrain. Crivelli’s unique style, vividly graphic and marrying the beautiful with the grotesque, has long captivated audiences.