Crucifix with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, Christ the Redeemer, and a Praying Woman

This late 13th century painting is the work of an unidentified Florentine artist and was presumably created for a female audience, given the presence of a veiled woman kneeling in prayer. It depicts Christ's body on the cross and a grieving Mary and John. Such works as this signaled a shift in artistic style, from rigid depictions of Christ to more emotionally charged images. This particular painting focuses on the agony of the Crucifixion, as is shown by Christ's angled body and the lines of blood below his hands and feet.

The role of poets in the medieval world centered around imitation and reinvention. Original work was  discouraged and seen as sinful. Poets focused on compiling borrowed ideas to recreate stories (preferably better versions). Similarly, artists who focused on religious scenes worked to recreate the scenes through various art styles and techniques. In this piece specifically, the artist reinvents the Crucifixion by way of somber faces, dark colors, and body angles. These techniques embody pain and death--the pain and death that Christ experienced. In this way, the painter reimagines the Crucifixion, just as a poet would have reimagined the work of other poets.

On a final note, artists of the Middle Ages as a whole were very similar to poets, as many depicted the same events in numerous different ways. Hundreds upon hundreds (if not more) works exist from this time period depicting the Crucifixion, among many other religious events. Thus, artists were essentially competing to produce the best works, just as poets competed to get noticed by superiors. As poets' wanted to facilitate good relations with royalty, artists (or at least those for whom they painted) wanted to facilitate a good relationship with God and the Church.