The Crucifixion with St Francis

This panel is representative of a vivacious period of thirteenth century Bolognese painting, when the city was heavily influenced by the exoticism of Byzantine culture. At the time of its first publication in 1947, it was thought to the work of a skilled anonymous Byzantine master. Later it was recognised as the work of a Bolognese miniaturist, whose illuminations appear in a bible created for Pope Clement VII (now in the Biblioth�que Nationale, Paris (Ms Lat. 18). There are striking parallels between the present crucifixion and the crucifixion scene illustrating a leaf of the Gospel of St Matthew in the Clement Bible.