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Tondino di Guerrino, 'Crucifix', 1325-30

 


The monumental crucifixes of Cimabue, Giotto and their followers, and their transition from Byzantine forms towards increased dynamism and naturalism, have been well studied. Equally, smaller works by French Gothic practitioners in ivory are now beginning to permeate scholarship, mainly through the detailed exploration by Sarah Guerin. The goldsmiths of Siena do not command as much attention. Yet, they hold the key to artistic synthesis in the early fourteenth century. This is proved by the small processional crucifix currently at the National Gallery's iteration of Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-50, attributed to Tondino di Guerrino. 

Tondino combines enamel with an intricate gold sculptural presentation of the crucified Christ in this small, portable work. Instantly, the eye is drawn to the central element - the thin, skeletal body hanging from two stretched, emaciated arms. Christ's torso is drawn inwards, his ribs exposed, mimicking a sharp intake of breath. The downward gaze further suggests a man in pain, his eyes squeezed shut and brow furrowed in concentration, or perhaps meditation. Christ's mouth is open, suggesting that the end is in sight and the breath of life will soon leave his body. With skin stretched over the armpits, neck and torso, the pain of the ordeal is evident. Tondino, however, looks to a very specific source. He chooses not to enhance the naturalism of Giotto's Santa Maria Novella crucifix, monumentally dangling above onlookers today. Instead, Tondino turns to sources closer to home, namely the pulpit in Siena Cathedral sculpted by Giovanni Pisano only a decade earlier. The depiction of Christ is uncannily close - a similar level of emaciation to the body, one knee lifting and jutting out into the viewer's space to mirror the downcast gaze, a single nail on the feet, thin arms struggling to hold the weight of the body. Tondino therefore thought carefully about his source material before completing his own representation. 

However, whilst Giovanni Pisano carved in marble, Tondino could exploit the body of Christ through an entirely different material. As a portable work, the small, gold detailing on the torso and hair would have interacted with natural light as it moved through space and was witnessed by the devout crowds. Displayed in a well-lit exhibition today, there is still a sense of spiritual performance. This is enhanced by the specific colour scheme chosen by the artist, to bring balance and harmony to the piece. The crucifix itself contains a green, purple and blue foliate motif, a developed form perhaps of the crucifix apron that painters experimented with on monumental works during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The choice of colour is matched by the flanking figures - a faded representation of the Virgin and St John the Evangelist on the right-hand side, in a particularly unique and original pose with hands clasped out in front of him. One might even suggest Tondino has attempted a kind of early foreshortening here. Interestingly, at the base of the crucifix is Mary Magdalene, hands together and offering a model for the onlooker. The most original moment in the work, however, comes directly above Christ in the form of a pelican set against a starry blue background. A key representation in Christianity of the sacrifice of Christ, it is a wholly appropriate inclusion. The entrepreneurial initiative of Tondino and his workshop has been commented on by previous scholars, including Pierluigi Leone di Castris who studied the oeuvre of the artist during the 1980s. 

The Tondino workshop was known throughout the city and surprisingly, Sienese goldsmithing is particularly well documented for the time, yet it remains a rich and understudied part of early Renaissance art in Italy. The recent exhibition at both the MET and currently at the National Gallery which tracks fifty years of artistic production has attempted to alter this, with a catalogue containing dedicated chapters to the work of Tondino, Guccio Di Mannaia, Ugolino di Vieri and others. Interspersing their surviving objects with monumental altarpieces also brings further prominence to goldsmith work, raising them to the same level as those artworks deemed more 'worthy' of study by the better-known early masters. It is an area of art history just waiting to be more fully researched and appreciated. 

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