Crucifix
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Crucifix , Christ , Jesus , Passion
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Abstract
This dramatic crucifix in San Maurizio in Ponte in Valtellina has been dated on the basis of style by Raffaelle Casciaro, who had the occasion to climb scaffolding and examine it closely, to the seventeenth century. The figure is both powerfully muscular with great bulging biceps and emaciated, his ribs protruding painfully and face pinched, and so the body conveys the divinity and suffering humanity of Christ. The face is bent far forward, surely to be legibile to a devotee from below, and when observed from a distance the head seems possibly detached from the neck, perhaps even hinged so that the head could be moved. Likewise, there seems to be a cavity in the mouth, and the figure does not seem to have hair, and so perhaps real hair was added (as for is the case for the crucifix in Irsina, for example). Perhaps this crucifix was therefore used in reenactments of the Passion on Good Friday, though this cannot be confirmed without closer examination. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
San Maurizio, Ponte in Valtellina
Citation
Raffaele Casciaro, La scultura lignea lombarda del Rinascimento (Milan: Skira, 2000), 135, 148 n. 4.