Spanish school of the 17th century

Spanish school of the 17th century.
"Christ crucified".
Carved and polychrome wood.
Measurements: 34 x 24 x 5,5 cm; 39 x 30 cm (frame).

Christ of three nails, carved in wood and polychrome, of achieved verism. It is a suffering figure, expiring, with the open and turned towards the sky, in a gesture that implores mercy. The carver has worked the anatomy with remarkable detail, creating a slender body but with marked musculature, in "déhanchement" or slight movement of the hips that accompanies the bending of a leg and adds expressiveness. Baroque iconographic models are followed, bearers of a withdrawn pathos, of a contained suffering. The cloth of purity is stiffened, printing a play of chiaroscuro. The representation of the crucifixion has undergone an evolution parallel to the liturgical and theological variations of the catholic doctrine in which we want to point out three milestones: at the beginning the paleochristian 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 eleventh century Christ is represented crucified but alive and triumphant, with his eyes open, according to the Byzantine rite that does not consider the possibility of the existence of the corpse of Christ. Later, under the theological consideration that the death of the Savior is not due to an organic process but to an act of divine will, Christ is represented, as in our work, already dead with his eyes closed and his head fallen on the right shoulder, showing the sufferings of the passion, provoking commiseration, as 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".