The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Processional Cross

Processional Cross

c. 1320
(Italian)
Italy, Umbria, 14th century
oil on canvas on wood
Unframed: 61.3 x 44.2 x 2.6 cm (24 1/8 x 17 3/8 x 1 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.280
Location: 110A Italian Gothic

Did You Know?

This cross is painted on both sides so that while being carried in a procession the images are visible to a crowd; both sides are not quite identical.

Description

This cross was originally mounted on a tall pole and carried in religious processions. Therefore, the figures on each side are almost identical. In the center is Christ crucified. Looking on from the elaborate terminals at left and right are the Virgin and Saint John. The bottom terminal shows a different saint on each side: Saint Francis on one and Saint Clare on the other. At the top of each side is an angel. Although one angel looks up and the other down, both express intense grief in their faces and gestures. The Master of Santa Chiara is the name given to this unknown artist who painted this and several other works in Assisi. In that city, Saint Francis founded an order of friars while Saint Clare established a counterpart for women called the Poor Clares. The presence of both saints on this cross suggests that it was made for one of Assisi's Franciscian institutions.
  • Charles A. Loeser, Florence, Italy
    ?-1931
    Achille de Clemente, Florence (New York sale Jan 15, 1931)
    1931-1941
    William Randolph Hearst (New York, NY Sale 1941)
    1941-1943
    (Mr. Adolph Loewi, Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1943-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
  • American Art Association, Anderson Galleries (Firm), and Achille de Clemente. Italian Furniture of the Renaissance: Rare Majolica, Brocades, Velvets, Renaissance Bronzes, Sculptures, Stone and Terra Cotta Groups, Primitive and Renaissance Paintings. [New York]: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, 1931. p. 169, cat. no. 491
    Francis, Henry S. "A Fifteenth-Century Florentine Processional Cross." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 1 (1945). pp. 3-5 www.jstor.org
    Offner, Richard, Klara Steinweg, and Hayden B. J. Maginnis. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. [New York]: College of Fine Arts, New York University, 1930. pp. 166-7
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 404 archive.org
    Francis, Henry S. "Sassetta: Crucifixion with St. Francis." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 3 (1963). p. 46, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 58 archive.org
    Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places : Central Italian and North Italian Schools. London: Phaidon, 1968. p. 356
    Boskovits, Miklós. Un pittore "espressionista" del trecento umbro. Perugia: Facoltà di lettere e filosofia dell'Università degli studi di Perugia, 1968. pp. 126-7, figs. 11-12
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 58 archive.org
    Yale University, and Charles Seymour. Early Italian Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery; A Catalogue. New Haven: Published for the Yale University Art Gallery by Yale University Press, 1970. p. 101
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Louise d' Argencourt, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. pp. 138-9, no. 49,
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 65 archive.org
    Cole, Bruce. Italian Art, 1250-1550: The Relation of Renaissance Art to Life and Society. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. p. 197, fig. 152
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. p. 147
    Morello, Giovanni, and Laurence B. Kanter. The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi. Milan: Electa, 1999. pp. 86-7, cat. no. 9
    Cook, William R. Images of St. Francis of Assisi: In Painting, Stone and Glass : from the Earliest Images to Ca. 1320 in Italy : a Catalogue. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1999. pp. 85-6, cat. no. 52
    Levkoff, Mary L. Hearst, the Collector. New York: Abrams, 2008. p. 131, fig. 8.7
    Fliegel, Stephen N., Dilys Blum, Bartolomeo Caporali, and Giacomo Caporali. The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. pp. 114-5, cat. 17
    Andergassen, Leo. L'iconografia di Sant'Antonio di Padova dal XIII al XVI secolo in Italia. Padova: Centro studi antoniani, 2016. Mentioned: p. 206, no. 284
    Zappasodi, Emanuele. Sorores reclusae: spazi di clausura e immagini dipinte in Umbria fra XIII e XIV secolo.Firenze: Mandragora, 2018. Mentioned: p. 104, note 192
  • The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-June 2, 2013).
    The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (March 15-June 27, 1999).
  • {{cite web|title=Processional Cross|url=false|author=Master of Santa Chiara|year=c. 1320|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.280