FRA ANGELICO'S CRUCIFIXION – SAVING AN ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MASTERPIECE

Help save an Italian Renaissance masterpiece for the public

The Ashmolean Museum is urgently fundraising to save an early Crucifixion by Fra Angelico for the public. The painting, which has been in the UK for over two centuries, is now at risk of being sold to an overseas buyer. The UK government has barred its export until 29 October to give the Ashmolean time to raise the £4.48 million necessary to keep this rare and important work for public display in the United Kingdom.
 

Thanks to lead donations from major donors, a circle of over 25 supporters, and significant grants from the Art Fund and others, we are now within striking distance of our target. We hope that, with your help, we will be able to bring this masterpiece into our permanent collection so that it can be enjoyed by our visitors for years to come.

DONATE

If you have any questions about this campaign, please email our development office via:

  frances.freedman@devoff.ox.ac.uk

  01865 288 018

To learn more about the painting and our campaign, please watch our short video, below, or keep reading.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/B7zUNYXbTwA?si=s-PvrOdpz5-VAGDl

 

'We are immensely grateful to all of those who have helped us make such a positive start to our campaign and sincerely hope that others will join us to secure this beautiful and moving work'

Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean ​

 

 

About the painting

'The Crucifixion' is one of the earliest surviving panel paintings by Fra Angelico and perhaps the earliest version of the subject he was to return to again and again throughout his life and career.

Painted in the 1420s, 'The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen' exemplifies the power, beauty and sensitivity for which Fra Angelico would become known, and offers key insights into his painterly style and the development of European painting more broadly.

 

The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen, Fra Angelico, early 1420s, tempera on gold ground panel

The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen, Fra Angelico, early 1420s, tempera on gold ground panel © 2023 Christie’s Images Limited

Fra Angelico at the Ashmolean

The Ashmolean houses an extensive Italian Renaissance collection that includes important pieces by Raphael, Michelangelo and Uccello, as well as a rare, later work by Fra Angelico and his studio: a triptych of the Virgin and Child.

There are very few major paintings by Fra Angelico in public collections in the UK, and no complete works by the artist – the National Gallery and the Courtauld Gallery only hold fragments of larger altarpieces in their collections.
 

The Virgin and Child with Angels and a Dominican Saint, 1450–1455, Triptych painting, Fra Angelico

The Virgin and Child with Angels and a Dominican Saint, Fra Angelico, 1450–1455. Ashmolean Museum

 

If the Ashmolean is successful in raising the funds for this acquisition, it would make the Ashmolean the only museum in the country where visitors could witness Fra Angelico’s development over the course of his career. The Crucifixion would complement and significantly enhance the Museum’s important collection of Early Italian religious works.

To make a donation and support the campaign, please click on the button below:

DONATE

If you have any questions about the campaign, we would love to hear from you. To get in touch, please email Fran Freedman in our Development Office:

  frances.freedman@devoff.ox.ac.uk

  01865 288 018

 

 

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