Saint Helen Testing the True Cross (c. 1545): Artwork and History

Saint Helen Testing the True Cross (c. 1545) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti; Italian, 1518–1594).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This painting may belong to an extensive series of small scenes illustrating the story of Saint Helen, mother of Constantine, the Roman emperor who made Christianity the official religion of his empire. According to legend, Helen traveled to Jerusalem in search of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, known as the True Cross. Guided to the spot of the crucifixion, she identified the True Cross by testing its power to revive the dead. In this small painting, Tintoretto set down the figures with bold, summarizing strokes that efficiently convey posture and movement.

Object facts

• Title: Saint Helen Testing the True Cross
• Date: c. 1545
• Artist attribution: Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti; Italian, 1518–1594)
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 21.5 × 48.9 cm (8 1/2 × 19 3/8 in.); Framed: 31.8 × 59.4 × 6.4 cm (12 1/2 × 23 3/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1932.44

Collection credit

Gift of Böhler and Steinmeyer

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.