Cell cross with the image of Christ Crucified. Spain, 17th century.
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 66 x 44 cm.
This representation of the Crucified Christ is a cell cross, of the type that was placed inside the monks' cells. As is usual for this type and time, the cross is of rectilinear sections, unadorned and worked in an illusionist manner, with a typically Baroque painting, of tenebrist light and pathetic expression. Christ appears in the centre, with an expressively deformed anatomy that denotes the survival of Mannerism even in the 17th century. The lighting is halfway between Baroque tenebrism and the artificial light of Mannerism, and in any case creates an illusionist play that is very much in keeping with Baroque sensibility. At his feet we see a representation of Adam's skull. Cell crosses are a very common type of devotional work in Spanish and Latin American convents and monasteries in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The crucifixion of Christ is the central theme of Christian and especially Catholic iconography. Christ was subjected to the suffering that befell slaves who were fugitives or in rebellion, a condemnation that was essentially Roman but of Persian origin. This episode in the life of Christ is the most strictly proven historical fact and is also the main argument for the redemption of Christian doctrine: the blood of God incarnate as man is shed for the redemption of all sins. The representation of the crucifixion has undergone an evolution parallel to the liturgical and theological variations of Catholic doctrine in which we would like to point out three milestones: at first early Christian art omitted the representation of the human figure of Christ and the crucifixion was represented by means of the "Agnus Dei", the mystical lamb carrying the cross of martyrdom. Until the 11th century Christ was represented crucified but alive and triumphant, with his eyes open, in accordance with the Byzantine rite, which did not consider the possibility of the existence of Christ's corpse. Later, under the theological consideration that the death of the Saviour is not due to an organic process but to an act of divine will, Christ is represented, on many occasions, already dead with his eyes closed and his head fallen on his right shoulder, showing the sufferings of the passion, provoking commiseration, as is referred to in Psalm 22 when he says: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (...) a mob of the wicked is near me: they have pierced my hands and my feet (...) they have divided my garments and cast lots for my tunic".