Italy, Piedmont / 1450–1500
Crucifixion with the Two Thieves
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Crucifixion with the Two Thieves as drawing (Italy, Piedmont · 1450–1500).
In the left foreground Christ's grieving mother, Mary, is supported by two other women: Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas. This common grouping is often called the Three Marys.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this drawing as pen and brown ink and black chalk.
The museum's collection notes: To make this drawing—which could be a ricordi (a visual record of a painting)—the artist first sketched part of the composition with charcoal before completing it with pen and ink. Charcoal was not regularly used as a drawing medium until the second half of the 1400s. Even then, it was usually a secondary medium, as seen here, meant to sketch or outline figures to be completed in other media. Charcoal and black chalk became more popular with later generations of artists, including Michelangelo, who found the supple qualities of the media ideal for rendering the human figure.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtCrucifixion with the Two ThievesOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.