Crucified Christ; Spanish or Italian School, 15th... Lot 24

Crucified Christ; Spanish or Italian School, 15th century. Carved and polychromed wood. Measurements: 120 x 122 x 20 cm. Round sculpture made in wood representing the figure of Christ crucified. It is a devotional image that tries to awaken the passion and faith of the spectator. To achieve this, the sculptor has sought dramatisation through the use of the colour red in the hands, and the gesture of the face, with the mouth open in an agonising attitude. Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared in the history of art and popular culture since before the era of the pagan Roman Empire. The crucifixion of Jesus has been depicted in religious art since the 4th century. It is one of the most recurrent themes in Christian art and the one with the most obvious iconography. Although Christ is sometimes depicted clothed, his body is usually depicted naked, although with his genitals covered with a purity cloth (perizonium); full nudes are very rare, but prominent (Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Cellini). The conventions of depicting the different attitudes of the crucified Christ are designated by the Latin expressions Christus triumphans ("triumphant" - not to be confused with the Maiestas Domini or the Pantocrator), Christus patiens ("resigned" - not to be confused with the Christ of patience) and Christus dolens ("suffering" - not to be confused with the Vir dolorum). The triumphans is represented alive, with his eyes open and his body erect; the patiens is represented dead, with his will totally emptied (kenosis), his head bowed, his face with a serene expression, his eyes closed and his body arched, showing the five wounds; the dolens is represented in a similar way to the patiens, but with a gesture of pain, particularly in his mouth (curved). Italian and Spanish Baroque sculpture had many similarities, as both showed a marked taste for naturalism, a trend in which this piece is part of. This taste for naturalism is evident in sculptures or sculptural groups that played an important role in the liturgy at different times of the year: at Easter, Christmas and other important festivities, where the celebration of mass involved, in various ways, the participation of these sculptures, which were, for the faithful, a powerful illustration of the mysteries around which the sermons and homilies revolved.