Fra Angelico
The Crucifixion

15th century
Tempera on wood, gold ground
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maitland F. Griggs Collection, 43.98.5

The artist downplays certain traditional features that give a positive spin on the Crucifixion. The man in black lifting his hand on the far left is the closest we have to the centurion who is seen in other images to lift his whole arm to say, "Indeed this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54). The angels collecting Jesus' blood for the salvation of mankind are reduced in size. The skull, supposedly representing the redeemed Adam, is barely noticeable.

On the other hand there is no downplaying the pathos. In the lower register John reacts in anguish to the Virgin Mary's dead faint. The man with the vinegar sponge is featured at the very center of the middle register, and Jesus himself is impossibly distant from him and even from the men on horseback.

This image in full resolution
More of the Crucifixion

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