Christ at Rest

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Wood sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Store

Inventory

s.n.

Material and technique

Sculpted wood, paint

Author

Roman School

Dating

17th century

Dimensions

22.7 x 9.5 x 11.4 cm.

Origin

Gorga Collection (1948)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

This statuette came from the collection of the opera singer Gennaro Evangelista (called Evan) Gorga, which was given to the Italian state in 1948 and was intended for the most part for the Palazzo Venezia museum. Identified by the number 81 in Gorga’s collection, the work depicts Christ sitting on a moulded, polygonal base, at the moment after the Flagellation, indicated by his body being covered in blood. The modelling is handled with a certain refinement and anatomical knowledge; but the sense of sculpture and portraiture is mediocre. In particular, the statuette seems to evoke a type of Christus in der Rast, that is Christ at rest, rather than Christus als Schmerzensmann, or Christ suffering, with which it is sometimes identified (cfr. G. von der Osten, 'Christus in Elend und Herrgottsruhbild', in Reallexikon zur deutscher Kunstgeschichte, III, Stuttgart 1954, pp. 644-658; G. Seib, 'Rast Christi, letze', in Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, III, Rome-Basel-Freiburg-Vienna 1971, pp. 495-498). An object of popular devotion, the Christ at rest (after an engraving by Dürer from 1511 that forms part of the ‘Great Passion’ series) was translated into a series of very emotive sculptures, of true and deep spirituality, though produced artisanally. In a series of statuettes that can be dated between the 17th and 19th centuries, this seems rather early.

 Grazia Maria Fachechi 

Bibliography

Unpublished