Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting
In 2000, The Frick Collection’s Flagellation of Christ was confirmed to be by the artist Cenni di Pepo (c. 1240–c. 1302), known as Cimabue, following the discovery of The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels (now in the National Gallery, London), a panel known to have been painted by the Florentine master. Visitors to the exhibtion, presented from October 3 to December 31, 2006, had the rare opportunity to see these two panels side by side — the first time they have been together in America. A selection of panels, manuscripts, and verre églomisé (painted and gilded glass) were also on view, illustrating the various forms of small-scale devotional art with which Cimabue and his contemporaries experimented.