Christ Crucified

This figure of Christ from a crucifix in Wrocław belongs to a type of Crucifixion image in which Christ’s unthinkable suffering is depicted in an exceptionally vivid manner. These kinds of works are often referred to as images of torment. The growing popularity of such depictions of Christ in the 14th century goes hand in hand with an increased interest in mysticism and dolorisism, in which strong emphasis on the signs of anguish is meant to breed contemplation and empathy for Christ’s ordeal. The effect is achieved by Christ’s body being presented in an utterly distressed state, his veins bulging, arms and legs cramped in agony. His entire body is covered in bleeding wounds from flogging and from the nails used to hang him on the cross. Especially prominent is the wound in his side, left by a lance at the time of his death. Streams of blood run from his swollen eyes and down his head and face from the wounds left by the crown of thorns. This abundance of spilt blood had a theological significance, dolorist literature dwells on the paradox of Christ’s bloodshed being so profuse even though only a single drop of blood would have been enough for man’s salvation.

Often other known examples of this type were mounted on a forked cross symbolising the Tree of Life growing in paradise. As apocryphal texts have it, the tree from which Jesus’ cross was made grew from the seeds of the original Tree of Life.

In the case of the sculpture on display in the gallery, the original cross has not survived to the present but the orientation of the limbs suggests that here too the original cross was a forked one.