The Crucifixion and Symmetry in Fra Angelica's Paintings

The Crucifixion, Fra Angelico, poss. 1440, Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York,

Symmetry was still on our minds since our math lesson on it last week. When we looked at Fra Angelica's The Crucifixion this week, the symmetry just popped out at us with the two sets of three standing figures on either side. There are two lines formed by the backs of the leaning figures on each side of the cross. Their leaning in helps to carry the eye inward, directing our attention to the central figure. The symmetry, or the sameness of the two sides, is clear in this painting, but then it made us go back to last week's painting, The Annunciation, and we could see that the two figures were also symmetrical in that painting, both mirroring the slight bending line of their backs to the center of the painting.

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