This crucifix made of copper alloy, shows Jesus nailed to a cross. The cross is molded to look like a tree with many regularly spaced, short, stubs of branches protruding from it. The horizontal limb is not straight but bent slightly downward on both sides. Jesus is alive but suffering. His eyes are downcast but open. His thin arms are splayed in a wide V, his palms held open, revealing the nails in the center of his oversized hands. His legs are close together with slightly bent knees. His ankles touch as his right foot overlaps his left. His gaunt body reveals the musculature over his ribs. His only clothing is a short gilded loin cloth tied below his hip. Traces of gilding are found in his shoulder length, disheveled hair, beard, and moustache and in two decorative motifs on the vertical limb of the cross. Three gilded, trumpet shaped lilies are attached to the lower end of the body’s vertical support and a scroll with "INRI" written on it is wrapped around its upper end.
French
Crucifix,
about 1500
Partly gilded copper alloy
,
44 x 33.6 cm (17 5/16 x 13 1/4 in.)
Object details
Accession number
M15w29
Primary Creator
French
Full title
Crucifix
Creation Date
about 1500
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection by 1915.
Dimensions
44 x 33.6 cm (17 5/16 x 13 1/4 in.)
Display Media
Partly gilded copper alloy
Dimension Notes
Corpus: 21.5 x 20.5 cm
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Early Italian Room
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 99. (as French, probably 14th century)
Alan Chong and Giovanna De Appolonia. The Art of the Cross: Medieval and Renaissance Piety in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2001), pp. 48, 94-95, cat. 13. (as French or Italian (?), about 1500)
Rights and reproductions
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Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.