Il Crocifisso del Cristo Re a Genova Sampierdarena. Un nuovo tassello per la scultura lignea ligure del Quattrocento

The restoration of the wooden Crucifix we can see in the church of Cristo Re, in Genoa Sampierdarena, has brought about a careful examination of this extraordinary handicraft. The Crucifix was found in Genoa under a heap of rubble in 1974 deprived of its original polychrome probably caused by the last war. It had been made with extreme refinement and strong realism which seem to have brought it more up to date and similar to other Crucifixes widespread in the Western part of the Ligurian Province at the beginning of the XV century. A similar style of working is found on the Crucifix in the Parish church of Chiusavecchia (Imperia). This modernization is caused by the influence of the painters who were active in the thirties, in particular by Donato de Bardi. There is a strong link between the Crucifix we are studying and his famous painting, of identical subject matter probably painted for the San Lazzaro Hospital in Savona and now kept at the Civic Picture-gallery of that city.