High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Crucifix (c. 1265) is a large distemper on wood painting by the Italian painter and mosaicist Cimabue, one of his three surviving painted crucifixions. It is noted for being one of the first Italian artworks to break away from the Byzantine style. It is renowned both for its technical innovations and for its move towards a more humanistic interpretation of religious iconography and the representation of saints. Cimabue confronts the viewer with a mercilessly realistic depiction of the passion at Calvary and a limp, defeated body of Christ on the cross. In its graphic depiction of human suffering and physical pain, the painting is of seminal importance in the history of art and has influenced painters from Michelangelo and Caravaggio to Velasquez and later Francis Bacon.