The Meaning of the Image of Virgin Mary in Croce Dipinta

The main topic is iconography of the Virgin Mary in Croce dipinta — a wooden cross with the painted image of Crucifixion. In the monuments of the XII–XIII-th cent. the figure of Mary was situated in tabellone (the appendix of the cross) among the others in the composition of the Crucifixion. In the works by Giunta Pisano the image of Mater dolorosa appeared for the first time in the iconography of Croce dipinta, that was connected with the spirituality of the Duecento. This period the attention to the maternal sufferings of Mary in front of Her crucified Son had grown up so the image of Mater dolorosa in the iconography of the Cricifixion became necessary. Finally the tradition of Croce dipinta (disappeared in the end of Trecento) has influenced strongly to all Passionate iconographies of the High Renaissance.