Neapolitan school; 18th century.
"Crucified Christ".
Carved and polychrome wood.
It presents faults in the carving and repainting.
Measurements: 60 x 38 x 8 cm.
Round sculpture made in wax representing the figure of the crucified Christ. It is a devotional image that tries to awaken the passion and faith of the spectator. To do this, the sculptor has sought dramatisation through the use of the colour red in the hands, and the gesture of the face, with the mouth open in an agonising attitude. Even so, the piece does not show the wound in the side which would seek to exacerbate the pathos of the message to be conveyed by this work. Crucifixions and crucifixes have appeared in the history of art and popular culture since before the era of the pagan Roman Empire. The crucifixion of Jesus has been depicted in religious art since the 4th century. It is one of the most recurrent themes in Christian art and the one with the most obvious iconography. Although Christ is sometimes depicted clothed, his body is usually depicted naked, although with his genitals covered with a purity cloth (perizonium); full nudes are very rare, but prominent (Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Cellini). The conventions of depicting the different attitudes of the crucified Christ are designated by the Latin expressions Christus triumphans ("triumphant" - not to be confused with the Maiestas Domini or the Pantocrator), Christus patiens ("resigned" - not to be confused with the Christ of patience) and Christus dolens ("suffering" - not to be confused with the Vir dolorum). The triumphans is represented alive, with his eyes open and his body erect; the patiens is represented dead, with his will totally emptied (kenosis), his head bowed, his face with a serene expression, his eyes closed and his body arched, showing the five wounds; the dolens is represented in a similar way to the patiens, but with a gesture of pain, particularly in his mouth (curved).
Neapolitan sculpture shows a marked taste for naturalism, a trend to which this piece belongs. This taste for Neapolitan naturalism is evident, for example, in the tradition of nativity scenes, as well as in the carving of groups of the Holy Sepulchre. Both the nativity scenes and the groups of the Holy Sepulchre and the vestments have a strong dramatic, scenographic component. They were also sculptures or sculptural groups that played an important role in the liturgy at different times of the year: at Easter, Christmas and other important festivals, where the celebration of mass involved, in various ways, the participation of these sculptures, which were, for the faithful, a powerful illustration of the mysteries around which the sermons and homilies revolved.