Christ on the Cross

Set against a dark and opaque background, Jesus hangs in anguish from the cross in this interpretation of the Crucifixion by Zurbarán. Blood drips from his palms and feet as he looks up to the sky in a moment of despair. These types of paintings were meant for viewers to meditate on Christ’s sufferings and connect them to their everyday reality. Thanks to illusionistic details, such as the shadow cast on the nails on Jesus’s feet, Zurbarán’s paintings appear more like sculptures that inhabit our space.