The Descent from the Cross (c. 1485): Artwork and History

The Descent from the Cross (c. 1485) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Bernardino Butinone (Italian, c. 1450-before 1510).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This panel and it’s companion, The Flight into Egypt, were originally part of a series of scenes from the life of Jesus that constitute Bernardino Butinone’s best-known works. The first painting depicts the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt as part of Mary and Joseph’s attempt to protect the newborn Jesus from being murdered by King Herod, who viewed the divine child as a threat to his power. The second painting shows Jesus’s body being lowered from the cross into the arms of his grieving mother and followers. Born in Treviglio in Lombardy in Northern Italy, Butinone worked primarily for patrons in and around Milan. His distinctive, eccentric style is characterized by expressive figures and highly imaginative descriptions of landscape settings.

Object facts

• Title: The Descent from the Cross
• Date: c. 1485
• Artist attribution: Bernardino Butinone (Italian, c. 1450-before 1510)
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Tempera on panel
• Dimensions: 26 × 20.4 cm (10 3/16 × 8 1/16 in.); Framed: 30.8 × 25.8 × 7.7 cm (12 1/8 × 10 1/8 × 3 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1933.1004

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

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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.