The Trinity (c. 1460): Art, History and Details

The Trinity (c. 1460) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Laurent Girardin (French, 1478).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Fundamental to Christian belief, the Holy Trinity refers to the three divine persons in God—God the Father, here depicted wearing a papal tiara, God the Son, crucified on the cross, and the Holy Spirit, represented as a dove. Juxtaposed with the Trinity's austere depiction are cherubim bathed in radiant red light, possibly influenced by stained glass windows that Girardin also designed in Lyon. God the Father wears a liturgical vestment, a sumptuous and bejeweled cope, or cape, fastened below the neck, typically worn by clergy for processional occasions. It is made of opulent crimson velvet with gold thread forming a large pomegranate pattern.

Object facts

• Title: The Trinity
• Date: c. 1460
• Creator attribution: Laurent Girardin (French, 1478)
• Culture: France, Lyon
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 134.5 x 114.5 x 8 cm (52 15/16 x 45 1/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 114 x 94.5 cm (44 7/8 x 37 3/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Medieval Art
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1960.79

A detail from the museum

When the painting was acquired in 1960 the artist was not yet identified.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review| 1960.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 10 (1960).
• Francis, Henry S. “The Holy Trinity.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 4 (1961).
• Châtelet, Albert, and Jacques Thuillier. French Painting: From Fouquet to Poussin. Geneva: Skira, 1963.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.