Minneapolis Institute of Art

Crucified Christ Triumphant over Death, Evil, and Sin

Paolo Guidotti, called Cavalier Borghese

Date

1621

Medium

Oil on walnut panel

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Paolo Guidotti was a true Renaissance man. Interested in flying machines, he made wings from whale bones, feathers, and springs and attempted to fly off a roof, breaking his leg. To study anatomy, he reportedly removed body parts from recently buried corpses. He also practiced architecture and law. Commentators have called him “a crazy master” whose expressive, eccentric style verged on the “hallucinatory.” Guidotti’s eccentricity is on display in this haunting, unusual Crucifixion. He set the tragic scene in the darkness of night, with Christ’s tortured body stilled by suffering and his head bowed in sorrow. Below the cross is a heap of vanquished figures: Death, represented as a skeleton; Evil, represented as the Devil or Lucifer; and Sin or Flesh, symbolized by the bound, naked figures of Adam and Eve. The six mourning women represent the six Maries—devout figures in the bible with Mary in their name—among them the Virgin Mary, in the blue mantle at left, and Mary Magdalene, kneeling at Christ’s feet. The other four might be Mary of Clophas; Mary, mother of James and John; Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Martha; Mary, mother of John Mark; and Mary of Rome. This small devotional painting was likely made for Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII (1623–44). Dated 1621 by the artist on the verso, it was executed just two years before Urban’s election to the papacy. The work can be traced in inventories of Rome’s famous Barberini collection throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Italy, Europe

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