The Crucifixion

Since 1499 Milan had been ruled by the French king Louis XII, who had driven out Duke Ludovico Sforza, and Leonardo da Vinci had left the city. Andrea Solari was still working there, and this panel is dated 1503. He fills Calvary with the people of his own day. Soldiers in armour and striped hose crowd the foot of the cross. Two men crouch over a red garment, recalling the soldiers who divided Christ's clothes. The Virgin has collapsed in her blue mantle. A skull lies at the base of the cross, a reminder that the name Golgotha means the place of the skull. Behind the crowd a wide landscape opens onto water, boats and a distant town. How the picture reached the Louvre is unknown. It entered the collection between 1842 and 1845.