\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 An early work by Giovanni Bellini, the panel represents the \i Crucifixion\i0 of Christ flanked by the two mourning figures of the Vi
rgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. Against the background of a rocky landscape reminiscent of the paintings of Andrea Mantegna and symbolizing Mount Golgotha, stands the wooden cross. From it hangs the stiff and gaunt body of Christ the man, viewed f
rom a low position which is the central vanishing point of the whole composition. Cloaked in ample drapery in the classical style, St. John and the Virgin look on with expressions of pain and suffering. A fine landscape stretches into the background, tra
versed by a river, framed by trees and mountains and bounded on the right by a medieval building with towers. The skulls and bones at the foot of the cross are an allusion to ChristÆs death and passion. The painting is steeped in the warm light of aftern
oon and pervaded by an atmospheric quality that is the dominant characteristic of the pictures of Giovanni Bellini, the great founder of the Venetian school of the fifteenth century. \par
