Master Of The Borgo Crucifix

Italian painter, active in Umbria, the Marches and Emilia Romagna. He was named after a Crucifix from Santa Maria in Borgo, Bologna (originally from San Francesco, Bologna, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna). It belongs with a group of works generally placed under the umbrella of the Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes, although more than one painter seems to have been involved. The core group of works attributed to this Umbro-Pisan master in 1922 consisted of a double-sided Crucifix in San Francesco, Assisi, two Crucifixes in San Francesco, Bologna and two fragments in Washington. The so-called Borgo Crucifix (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna) was added to this group in 1929. In 1949 the double-sided Crucifix in Assisi was removed from the group, and was given to a separate painter called the Master of the Blue Crucifixes. The two painters probably trained in the workshop of Giunta Pisano and worked together in the same workshop, this explains the melding of their styles. Both masters were painters of the highest quality, excelling in an expressive and rhythmic linearity, and a subtle palette.

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