Fra Angelico’s “The Crucifixion” Secured for UK Display by Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has unveiled the narrative behind a rare Italian Renaissance artwork, which its staff successfully prevented from being sold internationally. On Thursday, the museum declared that the 1420s crucifixion painting by Florentine artist Fra Angelico will stay in the UK, following a fundraising effort that secured nearly £4.5m. Dr Xa Sturgis, the museum director, along with Prof Jennifer Sliwka, investigated the painting’s provenance, tracing it from the Convent of San Marco through various private English residences. Titled “The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and the Magdalen,” the artwork is scheduled for exhibition in the Early Italian gallery by early December. This piece represents one of the earliest creations within Fra Angelico’s extensive oeuvre, which also encompasses grand frescoes and monumental altarpieces. These larger works were commissioned for the church and priory of the Convent of San Marco in Florence, the residence of the artist, who was also a Dominican friar. Currently, the former convent serves as the art museum of San Marco. While the majority of Fra Angelico’s artworks are still located in his home city, its environs, and the Vatican, the Ashmolean Museum noted that “The Crucifixion” stands as one of the artist’s rare surviving small-scale panel paintings. Dr Sturgis mentioned that it had been present in the UK for “probably about two hundred years,” though its exact journey to the country remained largely undocumented. “We don’t know exactly how it was bought, but it was bought by the Ashburtons, Lord Ashburton of the Baring family, and then it’s passed through that family and different branches of it and stayed in that family pool until now,” he stated. Prof Jennifer Sliwka, who leads the Ashmolean’s department of western art, further explained that Lord Spencer Compton, the 7th Marquess of Northampton, was one of the inheritors within the family. “And then it was offered for sale at Christie’s Auction House,” she recounted. She elaborated that early Italian artworks were removed from religious institutions as a consequence of suppression during the late 18th Century. “A lot of these objects found their way into galleries and onto the art market,” she observed. “So you see the kind of increase and desirability and collectability of these objects in the UK, especially.” Despite the Medici family being benefactors of San Marco, Dr Sturgis noted that the patron of “The Crucifixion” remains unidentified. “It’s clearly a work for private devotion, so we can imagine an individual praying and meditating in front of this painting,” he commented. “But it was almost certainly painted just as Fra Angelico entered the convent.” Prof Sliwka recognized that the painting faced the prospect of departing the UK unless a buyer within the country could be secured. A public institution had the option to acquire it by matching its sale price within a six-month timeframe. “I brought it immediately to the director and I said it needs to be here, I think this is an Ashmolean picture,” she recalled. “I had only arrived a few short months earlier, so it was a big statement to make.” Dr Sturgis described the acquisition process as “was absolutely not a straightforward proposition.” He added, “We weren’t certain we would get there until about two weeks before the deadline.” However, he noted that “urgency is quite a good way of encouraging people to come forward and support you.” Staff at the Ashmolean expressed their eagerness, stating they “can’t wait” to exhibit the painting for both local and international audiences. Dr Sturgis recounted that art historian Giorgio Vasari “famously wrote that Fra Angelico couldn’t paint the crucifixion without tears streaming down his cheeks.” He elaborated, “He was very much concerned with the emotional response to a picture.” Dr Sturgis characterized the artwork as “a very moving painting – it’s both very calm, but also very charged.” He further noted that it was “certainly the earliest crucifixion by Fra Angelico that survives,” marking the initial phase of the artist’s career. His preferred detail within the work is the depiction of John The Evangelist. “He turns his back to us… and you catch the side of his redden cheek as he looks up at the cross,” Dr Sturgis observed. “It’s a novel way of treating this figure and it shows Fra Angelico as a visual artist having new ideas about how to treat subjects that have obviously been painted many times.” Prof Sliwka remarked that “the humanity of it” rendered the painting “compelling.” She explained, “It’s a small picture, it’s intimate picture, so you are compelled to move very closely towards it.” She believes that “even in a large museum such as this, you have the opportunity to have that intimate one-to-one moment with this artwork.” Prof Sliwka predicted that “The Crucifixion” would serve as “the showstopper” in its designated gallery. “It has a very beautiful context here because we have a very strong collection of gold ground works from the 14th and 15th Centuries,” she added. There is also a possibility for the painting to temporarily return to Florence in September 2025. The Ashmolean is currently evaluating a request for the artwork to be loaned for the Fra Angelico exhibition, running until 25 January 2026.