The discovery of Ricuccio's will established a first ante quem term advanced to 1301, the year in which the Lucchese Deodato Orlandi signed a cross for the Poor Clares of San Miniato al Tedesco clearly inspired by that of Santa Maria Novella, in which he abandoned the "Greek" conventions followed by Cimabue and all the other painters.

The remarkable similarities with the crucifix in the background of the fresco with Jerome examining the stigmata in the upper church of St. Francis of Assisi, dated 1295, further anticipate the term ante quem.

On the other hand, the work seems to have been executed after the Madonna di Borgo San Lorenzo, dated circa 1290: the vision is more analytical, the tonalities more delicate and the figures show greater tenderness of feeling.

Giotto's Crucifix is considered a fundamental work in the history of Italian art, as it deepens and renews the iconography of the Christus patiens introduced to the peninsula in the first half of the 13th century by Giunta Pisano.

In contrast to the iconography now "canonized" by Giunta Pisano of the Christus patiens sinuously arched to the left (for the observer), Giotto paints the corpse vertically, legs bent, allowing the full weight to be released.

The legs are crossed and blocked by a single nail in the feet, in a manner already used by Nicola Pisano in the lunette of the Deposition in the left portal of Lucca Cathedral (circa 1270).

Also striking are the details of the hands, which, lacking strength, have the fingers projected slightly forward in relation to the palms nailed to the cross, with an illusion of perspective never seen before.