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Crucifix

UnknownSecond half of the 14th century

Bode-Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Bode-Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Berlin, Germany

This crucifix, so noble in its form, was acquired in Lucca. Wilhelm von Bode ascribed it to Andrea Pisano, but recent scholarship has widened the circle of potential artists to include his son Nino or an unknown master from Pisa of the last third of the fourteenth century. While the frontal view is balanced in composition, the side view surprises with its detachment of the trunk from the cross, a statically daring touch which conveys a sense of triumph. With its emphatic plasticity and its advanced understanding of the body, this wooden sculpture already looks forward to the Renaissance. Christ’s head, arms and legs are movable so that the deposition from the cross could be re-enacted in a mystery play during Holy Week.

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