Three Crucifixion Scenes

Author: Klazina Botke

The recto of this sheet contains four studies in pen and ink: three almost identical scenes of Christ on the Cross, and one of a standing man seen from the front. It can be deduced from the sequence in which the lines overlap that the scene at lower right must have been drawn first.^[1] This scene shows the weeping Mary seemingly drying her eyes on her cloak while John gazes pensively skywards, cupping his chin with his right hand. The scene at top left is the most elaborate and contains two additional figures. Standing behind John is the apostle Paul with his sword, and on the left, where the sheet has been trimmed, is the halo of a fourth saint.

The drawing on the verso depicts the martyrdom of Matthew. The Golden Legend relates that King Hirtacus was so infuriated by Matthew’s sermon on marriage that after the Mass was over he sent out an executioner ‘who slew Matthew with a sword behind him, which was standing by the altar holding up his hands into heaven, and so was consecrate a martyr’.^[2] The artist portrayed the apostle kneeling in front of the altar, with the soldier lunging forward with his sword, plunging it deep into the apostle’s back. Two men are watching, and on the far left there are the outlines of another figure, none other than King Hirtacus, who is pointing at Matthew. In 1968 Degenhart and Schmitt recognized this as a copy after Niccolò di Pietro Gerini’s fresco in the chapter-room of San Francesco in Prato, better known as the Migliorati Chapel (c.1395-1400).^[3] On the right side wall there are illustrations of three events in the life of Matthew, including his dramatic martyrdom (fig.).^[4]

The Rotterdam drawing is not an exact copy of the fresco. Not only are there fewer protagonists but the architecture of the sanctuary is very different, and there are discrepancies in the positions and clothing of the bystanders. According to Degenhart and Schmitt, a copyist either introduced variations himself or worked from a preliminary study that has not survived.^[5] The artist may have recorded motifs for later use.^[6] There is a similar sheet, although not by the same hand, in New York. Those standing figures were probably also meant to be used in new compositions.^[7] Degenhart and Schmitt also praise the quality of the Rotterdam drawing, and believe that it must have been made in Tuscany around 1400, for the style points to an artist working in the school of the draughtsman of the Vita di Gesù, a manuscript that is currently preserved in the Riccardiana in Florence, but of which the museum also has a sheet in its collection (MB 2018/T 24).^[8]

It was only recently that Gert Jan van der Sman and Furio Rinaldi suggested that the drawing could also be a preliminary study by Gerini himself, in which he was still searching for the right composition.^[9] That would also provide a good explanation for the differences between the drawing and the fresco. Unfortunately, there is no Crucifixion in his known oeuvre.^[10] In addition, few other drawings by his hand are known, which prevents a good stylistic comparison, and thus a more convincing answer.^[11]