The Santa Croce Crucifix is a c.1406-1408 polychrome wood sculpture by

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...

, then a young artist just back from Rome. It is in the Cappella Bardi di Vernio just off the left transept of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.

History

According to the ''Book of Antonio Billi'' (a manuscript in the

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence ( it, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe, one of the two central libraries of Italy, alon ...

), quoted and added to in Vasari's ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'', the work was originally in the church's cappella Barbigia. There it was criticised by Donatello's friend

Filippo Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi ( , , also known as Pippo; 1377 – 15 April 1446), considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture, was an Italian architect, designer, and sculptor, and is now recognized to be the first modern engineer, p ...

(who had gone with him to Rome) as showing a "contadino" (farmer) on a cross, that is for its exaggerated realism. This spurred Brunelleschi to produce for

Santa Maria Novella Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The chu ...

in c.1410-1415 his own crucifix - Donatello's first sight of that work made him drop the eggs he was carrying. Anonimo Magliabechiano also attributes the work to Donatello, as does Vasari in a letter to Matteo Benvenuti dated 29 December 1571 recording its move to its present chapel. A few art historians have disputed this attribution and instead assigned the work to

Nanni di Banco Nanni d'Antonio di Banco ( 1384 – 1421) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. Early life He was born to artist Antonio di Banco, who worked on the Cathedral of Florence in Florence, Italy. Historians have tried to deter ...

or another sculptor. Johnson identifies the work in Billi, Magliabechiano and Vasari with the crucifix at the Bosco ai Frati Monastery, but that work is now generally considered to date to between 1450 and 1499 instead.

References

{{Donatello Crucifixes Wooden sculptures Sculptures by Donatello Sculptures in Florence