Polyptych of Sant'Emidio — Ascoli Piceno

Carlo Crivelli created a magnificent polyptych for the Cathedral of Sant'Emidio in Ascoli, now preserved in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. The work was originally located on the main altar of the cathedral and is dated and signed on the central panel, precisely on the front of the step: “OPVS KAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI 1473”. It still retains its original gilded frame, following the models of the Vivarini family, such as the polyptych for the altar of the Certosa church in Bologna (today in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna), as well as fragments of the Corridonia polyptych.

The carver of the frame was identified by Alessandro Delpriori in 2022 as Pietro Lombardo, an artist who lived in Fermo but is documented for works in Ascoli.

Although praised by early scholars such as Amico Ricci (1834), late 19th-century critics attacked the work harshly, considering it unpleasant and disfigured, diverging from Tuscan and classical values. By the early 20th century, however, the criteria of evaluation began to change, and the Ascoli polyptych was progressively re-evaluated: from the “Mantegna substratum” praise (Adolfo Venturi, 1914) to comparisons with Giambellino (Drey, 1927).

The value of Crivelli’s work, especially for its “originality and absolute consistency of style” (Zampetti, 1952), is now universally recognised. Delpriori (2022) described it as “one of Carlo's most modern works, featuring stronger, more incisive expressiveness and a new way of conceiving figures, which stand out from the background as if in relief.”

Art historians have established connections to many artists: Federico Zeri noted affinities with Niccolò di Liberatore of Foligno, particularly his Montelparo polyptych (1466), and compared Crivelli to the Master of the Gardner Annunciation (now recognised as Piermatteo d'Amelia). Pietro Zampetti linked Crivelli to Piero della Francesca, while Delpriori connected him to the innovations of Giovanni Bellini in the 1470s, as well as to the world of Verrocchio and Pietro Perugino.

The saints painted by Crivelli in the Ascoli polyptych have been compared to Perugino’s Madonna and Child (Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris), especially the face of Saint Catherine in the upper register, with its white lead highlights.

The polyptych recently underwent a major restoration campaign with diagnostic analyses, whose results are expected to be published soon.

The work consists of two registers: the lower with full-length figures and the upper with half-length figures. Below is a predella with the apostles and Christ in the centre. All the main figures are crowned with flat haloes in brush-applied plaster, while the saints of the predella bear punched haloes.

The raised plaster technique (pastiglia) was used in the crown and robe edges of the Virgin, and more extensively in the mitre and crosier of St. Emidio, placed in a position of honour (first panel to the left of the Madonna). Crivelli used silver for St. Paul’s sword and St. Emidio’s crosier, both now darkened by oxidation.

The figures in both registers are set against a gilded gouache background, richly decorated with punched griccia motifs — a technique already seen in the dismantled polyptych of San Domenico in Fermo and later in the triptych of San Domenico in Camerino (1482).

The central panel depicts the Madonna and Child on a throne, against a red and gold drape of honour. The gilding was executed with glue-based technique, as were the seraphim and cherubim above. The drape and festoon appear suspended by white ties, with fruit including a cucumber — its first appearance in Crivelli’s art, later often repeated.

The side panels feature: St. Peter with book and keys; St. John the Baptist in camel-hair robe, holding a scroll inscribed “ECCE ANGVS DEI CCE”; St. Emidio in episcopal robes; and St. Paul with sword and book.

The upper register centres on a Pietà, the dead Christ supported by the Madonna, St. John the Evangelist and St. Mary Magdalene — echoing Giovanni Bellini’s Engel-pietà (1470, Museum of the City of Rimini). Other saints include: St. Catherine of Alexandria with martyr’s palm and cogwheel; an elderly St. Jerome with red hat, supporting a church model; St. George as a nobleman, palm of martyrdom in hand, the dragon reduced to a golden emblem on his chest; and St. Ursula with banner bearing the red cross.

Notably, St. Catherine of Alexandria lifts her gaze and delicately flutters her transparent veil, an element Carlo reused, for example, in St. Mary Magdalene of the Montefiore dell’Aso polyptych.