Crucifix

Inscriptions

Obverse: inscribed, above Christ's halo: IHS / XPS

Label

The image of Jesus on the cross is central to Christian worship and prompts viewers to consider his ultimate sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. Made centuries apart, these crucifixes use valuable metals to suggest both the divinity and the preciousness of Christ. Each gives dimensionality to Christ’s emaciated body, prompting the viewer to imagine the physical pain and suffering of his death. The three crosses would have been part of composite objects with larger roles in religious practice. The Limoges cross may have been affixed to a pyx, a box for consecrated wafers, while the largest cross has a notch where it was elevated on a staff to be carried in processions. Meanwhile, the fully three-dimensional body of Christ was once nailed to a cross, perhaps for private devotional use.

From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

ARTH 15.1, Gothic Art, Jane Carroll, Spring 2019

HIST 96.39, Saints and Material Devotion, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Fall 2021

FREN 22, Medieval and Renaissance French Literature, Andrea Tarnowski, Spring 2022

HIST 7.19, Medieval Paris, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2022

History 3.01, Europe in the Age of Wonder, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Walter Simons, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

An Exhibition of Medieval Renaissance and Islamic Works of Art, Newhouse Galleries, New York, New York, in conjunction with Trinity Fine Art Ltd., London and Michael Tollemache Ltd., London, November 9-22, 1995.

European Bronzes from the Collection of Roger Arvid Anderson, Class of 1968, Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 19, 1996-June 22, 1997, no. 1.

Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 21, 1998-August 24, 2002.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 24, 2002-January 7, 2005.

Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.

Publication History

Roger Arvid Anderson, The Roger Arvid Anderson Collection, Medals, Medallions, Plaquettes and Small Reliefs, Paintings, Sculpture, Works on Paper and Textiles, San Francisco: Roger Arvid Anderson (published privately), design by David L. Wilson, 2015, p. 108.

An Exhibition of Medieval Renaissance and Islamic Works of Art, New York, New York: Newhouse Galleries, catalogue no. 10, p. 30, 1995.

Provenance

Trinity Fine Art, London; sold to Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, California, 1995; lent to present collection, 1995; given to present collection, 2016.

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Subjects