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The Crucifixion

Pompeo Batoni (Italian (Roman), 1708–1787)
1762

Medium/Technique Oil on canvas
Dimensions 99.06 x 74.93 cm (39 x 29 1/2 in.)
Credit Line Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund
Accession Number1987.296
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
The American painter Benjamin West wrote that the Italian artists he met in Rome in the 1760s "thought of nothing, looked at nothing, but the work of Pompeo Batoni." Batoni based his dramatic style on classical sculpture and on the art of Renaissance masters such as Raphael. His rich color, close attention to detail, and strictly controlled compositions influenced painters throughout Europe. This is a rare religious painting by the artist, whose portraits of popes, kings, and British aristocrats on the "Grand Tour" made him the most successful artist in Rome.

ProvenancePrivate collection, Genoa (?) [see note 1]. 1987, Carlo Sestieri, Rome; 1987, sold by Sestieri to Heim, London and Old Masters (Paintings and Sculptures) Ltd., London; 1987, sold by Heim and Old Masters, Ltd. to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 24, 1987)

NOTES:
[1] According to Edgar Peters Bowron, "Pompeo Batoni's 'Allegory of Peace and War' and other subject pictures," in Studi di Storia dell'Arte in onore di Denis Mahon, ed. Maria Grazia Bernardini et al. (Milan: Electa, 2000), p. 360, n. 5, the painting is said to have come from a Genoese collection.