William G. Congdon Crucifix 46

The work, created in 1969, marks Congdon’s return to the theme of the crucifix, suspended in the first half of 1966 after the creation of the large Crucifix 45, now at the Congdon Foundation in Buccinasco, Milan. The painting has a marked mournful character, dominated by black and grey-purple tones. The dense black that dominates the upper part helps to accentuate the characteristic structure of the landscape, already experimented in the slightly previous landscapes. The formal half-bust layout is also already used in previous crucifixes. The verticality of the cross, the intersection with its horizontal plane, the contrast between the light of the gray tones and the dense black that clots in the hair of Christ’s reclining head, are familiar themes in the Crucifixes series but particularly felt in the painting in the Diocesan Museum. The work was donated by the Congdon Foundation to the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, who in turn donated it to the Museum itself.