CORPUS CHRISTI. POLYCHROMED WOOD. POSSIBLY SOUT GERMANY, 15TH CENTURY.
Antiques - Sculpture
Reference: ZF1176
Christ Crucified, Sorrowful Crucifix. Carved and polychromed wood. Possibly from the South German school, 15th century. Polychrome and gilded wood carving showing Christ with the Crown of Thorns, on the Cross, already deceased (eyes closed), with the usual INRI scroll on the upper crossbar of the Latin cross, three nails (note the crossed feet) and a short, gilded and polychrome loincloth or perizonium. In German, it is known as “Gabelkreuz” or “Gabelkruzifix” (“Sorrowful Crucifix” in English) a type of Gothic crucified Christ that is especially expressive (prioritizing external suffering over other aspects) and that normally presents the cross in the shape of a Y opsilon (alluding to the Tree of Life), created, apparently, thanks to the influence of the mysticism of the late 13th and early 14th centuries (Saint Bridget, etc.) and that can be found in the Rhineland (western Germany) and, through influences and contacts, in the rest of Europe (apparently, some currently consider that the origin of the iconography is not German but Italian). Most sculptures of this variant are concentrated in three European areas: the German zone encompassing the present-day northern federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, and central and northern Italy, although they are also found in other locations such as Lucera in Apulia, Palermo in Sicily, and Oristiano in Sardinia. Spanish examples should not be overlooked either (usually divided into three categories: those derived from the Santo Cristo de Perpignan, the Castilian group, the Navarrese images, and the Andalusian Crucifixes). One of the oldest pieces following this typology is the Dolorous Crucifix in the Church of Santa Maria del Capitolio in Cologne. In Italy, the one in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is often highlighted. In Spain, there is one in Puente la Reina (Navarre) considered a donation from a 14th-century German pilgrim. There is one in the lower choir of the Royal Monastery of Santa María de las Huelgas in Burgos, attributed to a Central European workshop or to a sculptor influenced by these models in the second half of the 14th century (with a Latin cross). It is also necessary to consider the German sculptors who traveled and worked throughout Europe.
· Size: 76x26x135 / 62x23x85 cms.
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