documented around 1229 -1254 · Pisa, Assisi and Bologna

Through his large painted crucifixes and his suffering Christ, Giunta Pisano gives Byzantine language a decisive human force for Italian painting of the 13th century.

Giunta Pisano, or Giunta di Capitino, is a Pisan painter documented in the first half of the 13th century. His biography remains fragmentary, but the signatures and texts allow us to follow an activity between Pisa, Assisi and Bologna. He was among the first Italian painters whose name was inscribed on preserved works. In 1236, Brother Elijah commissioned a large crucifix from him for the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. The work was lost, but its inscription and later testimonies show the prestige already acquired by the artist. Giunta adopted the Byzantine type of Christus patiens: Christ is no longer triumphant and upright on the cross; his body curves, his head fall and death becomes visible. This pathetic image responds to the new Franciscan sensitivity, based on meditation in the face of the human sufferings of the Savior. The crucifixes of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, San Ranierino in Pisa and San Domenico in Bologna allow us to measure the evolution of the painter. The drawing retains the abstract power of the icon, the gold backgrounds and the assertive contours, but the anatomy, shadows and tension of the body intensify the emotion. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober and readable gestures. Around Christ, the Virgin and Saint John share the pain through sober suspended in the church. Its influence is profound: the formula of the suffering Christ spreads in Tuscany and Umbria, before being taken up and transformed by Cimabue then Giotto. Giunta therefore does not break with Byzantium; he mobilizes its codes to create a more dramatic, more corporeal presence closer to the faithful. The "Giunta Pisano" selection notably compares the Altarpiece of Saint Francis and six of his miracles and San Francesco and four post-mortem miracles. His reading favors the material.

Giunta Pisano bends the icon: gold remains timeless, but the body of Christ now carries the visible weight of human suffering.