Crucifixion of Christ

The Crucifixion, surrounded by a molded frame, includes many figures: Christ, the two thieves, the Madonna among the pious women, Mary Magdalene, Saint John the Evangelist, a putto, and fifteen soldiers, two of whom are on horseback. The figure under the cross with the shield bearing the gorgoneion has been identified as Longinus. The works of Galeazzo Mondella, known as Il Moderno (1467–1528), have been extensively distributed, likely due to their use as a 'pax,' an object kissed by the faithful during liturgical ceremonies (Cannata 1982). Molinier (1886) observed that the soldier facing away in the Resurrection (inv. 10831) suggests the two plaques are close in chronological proximity. Pope-Hennessy (1965) reasonably attributed the off-center positioning of the two thieves to transalpine art, while Wixom (1975) questioned the Deposition by a Dutch engraver known as the Master with the Banderoles, although this comparison seems insignificant. Lewis (1989) dates the plaque to the late 1480s (1486–1489) and traces the composition's origin to Ercole de’ Roberti's Crucifixion (1482–1486) in the Garganelli chapel in San Petronio, Bologna, which was demolished but remains known through pictorial records and subsequent artworks inspired by it. The scholar compares the work to Antonio Vivarini's painting in Ravenna, Francesco Bonsignori's Christ Carrying the Cross in Mantua, and Vincenzo Foppa's Deposition in Pavia, but these comparisons seem unconvincing. Banzato suggests generic Mantegnaesque influences (Banzato 2000). Cupperi (2005) dismisses Ferrarese references suggested by Lewis and argues that the lowered viewpoint, which enlarges the crowd and minimizes Christ and the thieves, reflects modern perspective traditions of Foppa and Bramantino. Additionally, Marco Collareta sees stylistic similarities with Gaudenzio Ferrari's Crucifixion in Varallo, though it is from 1513. Il Moderno’s composition appeared in several sixteenth-century works, including a wooden relief housed in Palazzo Zuckermann in Padua (Banzato 1989) and a painting from Piedmont (Bergbauer 2010). 
The piece in the Museo di Palazzo Venezia originates from the Viennese collection of Ambassador Giacinto Auriti (Santangelo 1964; Cannata 1982; and cr. inv. 10827, inv. 10828, inv. 10829, inv. 10831). A version from Cava de’ Tirreni, in the province of Salerno, has the nude figures censored with "breeches" following counter-reformation dictates (Leone De Castris 2018), while some later examples are attributed to the Dutch sphere (Pechstein 1968). An artifact framed by an elegant aedicule with a scrolled tympanum, candelabrum-decorated pilasters, and a grotesque base is likely contemporary or slightly later (Imbert, Morazzoni 1941). Among numerous examples—some with molded frames, others without—those in Ravenna (Martini 1985), La Spezia (Avery 1998), Turin (A.S.F. 1982), the Bargello Museum in Florence (Supino 1898; Vannel, Vannel Toderi 1996), the Correr in Venice (Jacobsen 1893), Vicenza (Banzato 2000; Cupperi 2005), Padua (Banzato 1989), the Louvre in Paris (Molinier 1886; Migeon 1904), Berlin (Bode 1904; Bange 1922; Rognini 1973–1974), the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (Maclagan 1924), the National Gallery in Washington (one with frame, inv. 1942. 9.239; one without, inv. 1957.14.294; Pope-Hennessy 1965; Wilson 1983), the Metropolitan Museum in New York (one with frame, inv. 27.14.5; one without, inv. 31.33.9), Santa Barbara (Middeldorf, Goetz 1944), Cleveland (Wixom 1975), and Oxford (Warren 2014) deserve mention.

Giulio Pietrobelli

Good. Natural brown patina.

Vienna, Giacinto Auriti collection, formed between 1922 and 1933, no. 8;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, donated in 1963.

Molinier Émile, Les bronzes italiens de la Renaissance. Les plaquettes. Catalogue raisonné, Paris 1886, I, pp. 128-130, n. 171;
Jacobsen Emil, Plaketten im Museo Correr zu Venedig, in «Repertorium für Kustwissenschaft», 16, 1893, pp. 54-75,  n. 10;
Supino Igino (a cura di), Catalogo del R. Museo Nazionale di Firenze (Palazzo del Podestà), Roma 1898, p. 107 nn. 417-418;
Bode Wilhelm, Königliche Museen zu Berlin. Beschreibung der Bildwerke der Christlichen Epochen. Die Italienischen Bronzen, Berlin 1904, p. 64, n. 740;
Migeon Gaston (a cura di), Musée National du Louvre. Catalogue des bronzes & cuivres du Moyen Âge, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes, Paris 1904, p. 245, n. 301;
Bange Ernst Friedrich (a cura di), Die Italienischen Brozen der Renaissance und des Barock: Riliefs und Plaketten, Berlin 1922, II, p. 62, n. 454, tav. 46;
Maclagan Eric, Victoria & Albert Museum. Catalogue of Italian Plaquettes, London 1924, p. 29, nn. 704-1907 e 426-1910;
De Ricci Seymour, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection. Reliefs and Plaquettes, Oxford 1931, pp. 132, n. 170;
Imbert Eugenio, Morazzoni Giuseppe (a cura di), Le placchette italiane. Secolo XV-XIX. Contributo alla conoscenza della placchetta italiana, Milano 1941, p. 55, nn. 107-108, tav. XX;
Middeldorf Ulrich, Goetz Oswald, Medals and Plaquettes from the Sigmund Morgenroth Collection, Chicago 1944, p. 34, n. 232;
Cott Perry, Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from The Kress Collection, Washington 1951, p. 151;
Santangelo Antonino, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. La collezione Auriti. Piccoli bronzi, placchette, incisioni e oggetti d’uso, Roma 1964, p. 36;
Pope-Hennessy John, Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel Kress H. Collection. Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars, London 1965, n. 147, fig. 179;
Panvini Rosati Franco, Medaglie e placchette italiae dal Rinascimento al XVIII secolo, Roma 1968, p. 72, n. 33, fig. 33;
Pechstein Klaus, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Bronzen und Plaketten, Berlin 1968, n. 33;
Rognini Luciano, Galeazzo e Girolamo Mondella artisti del Rinascimento veronese, in «Atti e memorie della Accademia di agricoltura scienze e lettere di Verona», XXV, 1973-1974, pp. 95-119,  fig. 4;
Wixom William, Renaissance Bronzes from Ohio Collections, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland 1975, nn. 42-43;
A.S.F., in Dagli ori antichi agli anni Venti. Le collezioni di Riccardo Gualino, catalogo della mostra (Torino, Palazzo Madama, Galleria Sabauda, dicembre 1982-marzo 1983), Milano 1982, p. 123, n. 59;
Cannata Pietro (a cura di), Rilievi e placchette dal XV al XVIII secolo, catalogo della mostra (Roma, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, febbraio-aprile 1982), Roma 1982, pp. 50-51, n. 27;
Wilson Carolyn, Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, Washington 1983, p. 107, n. 9;
Martini, in Zurli Francesco, Iannucci Anna Maria, Piccoli bronzi e placchette del Museo Nazionale di Ravenna, catalogo della mostra (Ravenna, Museo Nazionale, novembre 1985-marzo 1986), Ravenna 1985, p. 84, n. 35;
Banzato, in Banzato Davide, Pellegrini Franca, Bronzi e Placchette dei Musei Civici di Padova, Padova 1989, pp. 62-63, nn. 34-35;
Lewis Douglas, The Plaquettes of Moderno and His Followers, in «Studies in the History of Art», 22, 1989, pp. 105-141, note 31-32, p. 140, n. I.2;
Toderi Giuseppe, Vannel Toderi Fiorenza, Placchette. Secoli XV-XVIII nel Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Firenze 1996, pp. 83-84, nn. 143-144;
Avery Charles, La Spezia. Museo Civico Amedeo Lia. Sculture, bronzetti, placchette, medaglie, La Spezia 1998, pp. 272-273, n. 192;
Banzato, in Banzato Davide, Beltramini Maria, Gasparotto Davide, Placchette, bronzetti e cristalli incisi dei Musei Civici di Vicenza. Secoli XV-XVIII, catalogo della mostra (Caltanissetta, Cripta della Cattedrale, 16 settembre-12 novembre 2000), Verona 2000, pp. 64-65, nn. 31-32, pp. 123-124, figg. 31-32;
Cupperi, in Avagnina Maria Elisa, Binotto Margaret, Villa Giovanni Carlo Federico (a cura di), Pinacoteca Civica di Vicenza. Scultura e arti applicate dal XIV al XVIII secolo, Vicenza 2005, pp. 211-212, nn. 238-239;
Rossi Francesco, in Di Lorenzo Andrea, Frangi Francesco (a cura di), La raccolta Mario Scaglia. Dipinti e sculture, medaglie e placchette da Pisanello a Ceruti, Cinisello Balsamo, Milano 2007, p. 65 n. 9.
Bergbauer Bertrand, Moderno et les peintres. Autour des dérivés anversois d’une plaquette italienne, in «Revue de l’art», 167, 2010, pp. 31-40
Warren Jeremy (a cura di), Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture. A Catalogue of the Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Volume 3. Plaquettes, Oxford 2014, pp. 841-843, nn. 298-299;
Leone De Castris Pierluigi, Il Moderno a Cava. Ovvero i "braghettoni" d’argento, in «Napoli Nobilissima», IV, I, gennaio-aprile 2018, pp. 48-56.