Bartolomeo Passerotti (Bologna, 1529-1592)
Crucifixion with Saints Paul and Francis and Two Donors, 1565/1570
oil on wood, transferred to new support structure; inv. P 104
provenance: Bologna, Church of San Barbaziano, Zambeccari Chapel(?)
A sparrow or passero is clearly visible at the foot of the cross; the painter used this bird as a sort of trademark for his works, a clear allusion to his surname.
The painting is from the artist’s youthful phase, but it is already possible to note many of the characteristics which would become distinctive of Passerotti’s work: a certain inclination towards the grotesque in the horse and in the figures at the bottom.
Note the precision of the donors portraits and the extravagant pose of Saint Francis inspired by Michaelangelo.
On the other hand, the figure of Christ is of a great intensity and expressive power.
This Crucifix might be the great altarpiece that decorated the Zambeccari family chapel in the Church of San Barbaziano at least until 1603, a work that many believed to be lost.
The two donors pictured in the middle ground, beside the saints Francis and Paul, could in that case be identified as Livio Zambeccari and his wife, Dorotea Moroni.
