German school (XIX) - La Crocifissione di Cristo

Oil painting depicting the Crucifixion of Christ. It shows Jesus on the cross with the inscription I.N.R.I., the centurion Longinus piercing him with the sacred spear, and the sorrowing Madonna flanked by the pious women in prayer and kneeling at the foot of the wood. The work presents a theatrical arrangement of the characters, brown and earthy tones of traditional style, and a Roman horseman in the background on the right.
The central scene depicts Jesus crucified with the cartouche I.N.R.I. on the wood, flanked at the foot of the cross by the Virgin Mary in blue robes, by Saint John the Apostle, by the pious women, and by Mary Magdalene prostrate on the ground kneeling. To the right one sees a Roman soldier on horseback (often identified as the centurion or Longinus), while another soldier is portrayed in the foreground with a green cloak as he aims or supports the spear toward Christ’s side. In the background one can discern the silhouette of a fortified citadel, symbolically evoking the walls of Jerusalem and the hill of Golgotha.