CORPUS CHRISTI. POLYCHROMED WOOD. POSSIBLY SOUT GERMANY, 15TH CENTURY.

Crucified Christ, Sorrowful Crucifix. Carved and polychrome wood. Possibly South German school, 15th century. Polychrome and gilded wood carving showing Christ with the Crown of Thorns, on the Cross, already deceased (eyes closed), with the usual INRI phylactery on the upper crossbar of the Latin cross, three nails (note the crossed feet) and a short, gilded and polychrome purity cloth or perizonium. In German, the term “Gabelkreuz” or “Gabelkruzifix” (“Sorrowful Crucifix” in English) refers to a type of Gothic crucified Christ that is especially expressive (prioritizing external suffering over other aspects) and which normally presents the cross in the shape of a Y or ypsilon (alluding to the Tree of Life), apparently created thanks to the influence of the mysticism of the late 13th and early 14th centuries (Saint Bridget, etc.) and which can be found in the Rhineland (western Germany) and, through influences and contacts, in the rest of Europe (apparently, there are those who currently consider that the origin of the iconography is not German but Italian). Most of the sculptures of this type are concentrated in three European areas: the German zone, which includes the current federal states of northern Rhineland-Westphalia, Rheinland-Pfalz, Lower Saxony, and central and northern Italy, although they are also found in other enclaves such as Lucera in Puglia, Palermo in Sicily, and Oristiano in Sardinia. Nor should we forget the Spanish examples (usually included in three categories: those derived from the Holy Christ of Perpignan, the Castilian group, the Navarrese images, and the Andalusian Crucifixes). One of the oldest pieces that follows this typology is the Doloroso Crucifix from the Church of Santa Maria del Capitolio in Cologne. In Italy, the one from the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is often highlighted. In Spain there is one in Puente la Reina (Navarre) that is considered to have been donated by a German pilgrim in the 14th century; There is one in the lower choir of the monastery of Santa María de las Huelgas Reales in Burgos, attributed to a Central European workshop or to a sculptor influenced by these models in the second half of the 14th century (with a Latin cross). It is also necessary to take into account the German sculptors who travelled and worked in Europe.

· Size: 76x26x135 / 62x23x85 cms.