Christ Crucified

When the National Gallery bought this small panel in 1884, Antonello's signature and the date 1475 were written on the back. During a restoration that same year the inscription was moved to the lower edge of the picture and protected with strips of wood, and you can see the little plaque at the foot of the cross. The low viewpoint is deliberate. We look up at Christ the way a worshipper looked up at a crucifix standing on an altar, and he hangs apart from everyone, alone against a wide pale sky. The Virgin and Saint John sit on the ground below, among skulls and scattered bones. Behind them a river winds past a walled town with round towers, and in the middle distance three tiny figures, the Three Marys, are making their way home.