Crucifix
Alessandro Algardi
1641–1651
- Medium
- Bronze, wood with ebonizing and staining
- Dimensions
- 188.9 × 75.6 cm (74 × 30 in.); Corpus: 77.5 × 59.2 cm (30 1/2 × 23 in.)
- Genre
- bronze
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
religionbronze (color)large scalecrossJesuscasting (process)religious figuresplant materialDevotionCrucifixioncrucifixions17th CenturyItaliandrillingsculptureinorganic materialwood (plant material)Christian subjectsmanreligiouscarvingbronzebiblicalPopeorganic materialsculptingstaining (coloring)Christianity13th centurystain
About
Bronze, wood with ebonizing and staining This expertly cast bronze is one of the finest surviving versions of a lost silver crucifix that Alessandro Algardi made for Pope Innocent X in 1646. Jesus’s expression displays the agonized emotion caused by his torture on the cross, yet his body appears graceful and idealized. The cross is made of stained and ebonized pearwood and appears to be original, with the drilled holes at the bottom most likely used to affix it on an altar.
