FRA ANGELICO'S CRUCIFIXION - press release
9 September 2024:
(c) 2023 Christie's Images Ltd.
The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, is raising funds to purchase a painting of the crucifixion by the Renaissance Master Fra Angelico dating to the 1420s which, due to its cultural and art historical importance, has been barred from export and is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer is found. 'The Crucifixion' has been in a private British collection for over 200 years and is valued at over £5 million for the open market. The Museum has until 29 October to raise £4,481,000 to buy the painting in a private treaty sale. So far, over £3.1 million has been secured, including lead donations from major donors, a circle of over 25 supporters and a significant grant from Art Fund, with several grant applications pending.
The Crucifixion is one of the earliest surviving panel paintings by Fra Angelico and the earliest version of the subject he was to return to again and again throughout his career. It was discovered in a private UK collection and attributed to the master in the 1990s.
Fra Angelico was one of the key artists of the Italian Renaissance but there are no complete works by the artist in the UK – the National Gallery and the Courtauld Gallery only holding fragments of larger altarpieces in their collections. If the Ashmolean is successful in raising the funds this early Crucifixion would join a later work by the artist and assistants in the Ashmolean – a triptych of the Virgin and Child – making the Ashmolean the only museum in the country where visitors could witness Fra Angelico’s development over the course of his career. The Crucifixion would complement and significantly enhance the Museum’s important collection of Early Italian religious works.
Fra Angelico was active from 1417 and died in 1455. He seems to have trained with a leading Florentine painter, Lorenzo Monaco, and had established his own independent practice by 1418. By 1423 he had joined the Dominican convent of San Domenico in Fiesole, taking the name Fra Giovanni (Friar/Brother John). Later he moved to the newly built convent of San Marco in Florence which he went onto decorate with some of his best-known work – a cycle of luminous devotional frescoes. Shortly after his death he was praised as ‘blessed’ for his artistic skill and piety, and to this day he is known as Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic One) in Italy.
'The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen' dates to the early 1420s and in this intimate devotional image Fra Angelico established a model for the depiction of the crucifixion he was to follow throughout his life. He was famed for the emotional and religious intensity he evoked in depictions of the scene; the early art historian Giorgio Vasari claiming that Fra Angelico could not paint the crucifixion without tears running down his cheeks. Export of the panel, which exemplifies so much of the power, beauty, and sensitivity Fra Angelico was known for, would deprive a broad UK and international audience of a rare picture by one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance.
Dr Xa Sturgis CBE, Director of the Ashmolean, says: ‘This is an unrepeatable chance to save a powerfully engaging painting by one of the great painters of the Florentine Renaissance for the public. We are immensely grateful to all of those who have helped us make such a positive start to our campaign and sincerely hope that others will join us to secure this beautiful and moving work.’
On the announcement of the temporary export bar, member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, Christopher Baker said: ‘Fra Angelico was one of the great innovators in the evolution of early 15th-century Florentine art. This profoundly moving devotional work, with its delicate colour harmonies and deeply considered, expressive figures, demonstrates the enduring power of his achievement. It is an extraordinary rarity that assists with our understanding of a formative period in the artist’s career and in the development of Italian Renaissance painting more widely. Its appeal also extends far beyond such scholarship because of its numinous beauty.
‘Executed in tempera on a wooden panel, the painting retains its original frame and has been in Britain since the early 19th century. It would constitute a major addition to a UK public collection and every effort should be made if possible to acquire it.’
ENDS
Press contact
Claire Parris, Press and Publicity Manager, University of Oxford Museums and Gardens
claire.parris@glam.ox.ac.uk / 07833 384 512
Press images
https://go.glam.ox.ac.uk/FraAngelico
Object information
Fra Angelico (active 1417; died 1455)
The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen
Early 1420s
Tempera on panel, 59.7 x 34.2 cm
The painting retains its original engaged frame.
Further information about the export bar:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/renaissance-painting-depicting-the-crucifixion-at-risk-of-leaving-the-uk
The Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. Our world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time. Admission to the Museum is free.
