Object details
Object number
M27w24
Creator(s)
French
Title
Crucifix
Date
mid 12th century
Medium
Copper alloy (perhaps bronze)
Dimensions
35 x 19.8 cm (13 3/4 x 7 13/16 in.)
Additional Dimensions
Corpus: 17.3 x 17.2 cm (6 13/16 x 6 3/4 in.)
Overall with iron pin: 35 x 19.8 cm (13 3/4 x 7 13/16 in.)
Provenance
Probably purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the dealer Antonio Carrer (d. 1912), Venice, for 400 lire on 25 September 1897. Alternatively, it may have been purchased from the antiques dealers Moisè Dalla Torre and Co., Venice, for 30 lire in June 1884. [See the record for M27w40, Crucified Christ (from a Processional Cross)]
Commentary
This small bronze sculpture of Christ on the Cross was made to be placed on the altar during Mass. The crucifix was originally completely gilded and would have appeared as a glimmering, if diminutive, precious object. This type of crucifix became common in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in response to changes in liturgy which encouraged the placement of crosses on altars. Religious texts of around 1100 state that a cross acts as a focus for prayer, a visual reminder of the Christ’s suffering, and an encouragement to the congregation.
Isabella Stewart Gardner was drawn to religious art and acquired a significant number of crosses and crucifixes. This is the first complete bronze Romanesque crucifix to enter an American museum. The body of Christ is still attached to its cross, and at the bottom is the original iron pin that allowed the cross to be inserted into a base or a slot in the altar.
Source: Alan Chong, "Crucifix," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 19.
Bibliography
Regine Marth. Untersuchungen zu romanischen Bronzekreuzen: Ikonographie, Funktion, Stil (Frankfurt, 1988), p. 353.
Peter Bloch. Romanische Bronzekruzifixe. Bronzegeräte des Mittelalters, vol. 5 (Berlin, 1992), pp. 28 fig. I F 6, 97, 99 (as French?, mid-12th 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. 14, 19, 22, 25-26, 47, 49-50, 53-54, cat. 1.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 19, ill.
Gallery
Long Gallery
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