Crucifixion

Tintoretto painted this Crucifixion in the 1550s for a lay confraternity based at the Venetian church of San Severo, and he built the scene around the crowd at the foot of the cross rather than the dying Christ above. The Virgin has fainted and is held up by the women around her. Soldiers crouch in the dust and throw dice for Christ's clothing. Out at the edges the two thieves are still being hauled upright on their own crosses, the ropes taut, so the whole execution is caught mid-action instead of settled into a still tableau. It is a big, restless, densely peopled picture. The dice game at the front comes straight from the gospels, which say the soldiers cast lots for the seamless robe rather than tear it in pieces.