The Crucifixion

On a small gold panel Christ hangs against a flat ground while angels dart and grieve around the cross. The Virgin faints into the arms of the holy women at the lower left; Mary Magdalene, her long hair loose, kneels to embrace the foot of the cross; and a glittering knot of helmeted soldiers presses forward with banners and lances. This is one leaf of Simone Martini's Orsini Polyptych, a small hinged multi-panel altarpiece made for private devotion and travel, which packs the courtly brilliance of Sienese painting into a few jewel-like inches.