Identification of the True Cross, Garofalo, 1536

Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi)
Identification of the True Cross

1536
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara, Italy
Provenance: Church of St. Dominic, Ferrara, Italy

The sick man cured by the Cross embraces it while St. Helena looks on in awe. In the background the artist includes the episode of the Cross's discovery (see below). Jerusalem is behind and to the left of that scene; the domed church would be the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which Helen built over the place where the Cross was found. Above, in the words of the Pinacoteca's label, "the victory of Christ over death triumphs in the center of a glory of angels."

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Detail: The unearthing of the Cross. St. Helena is absent from the scene, and so many men are pointing to the pit that one cannot say which one is the character in the story named Judas.