On view
European Art
Corpus for a Crucifix,
mid 12th century
Artist unidentified
French or Mosan
y1956-107
Bronze corpora, sculpted bodies of the crucified Christ, survive in large numbers. They were made to attach to the crosses that stood on Roman Catholic altars or were carried in procession. Corpora were preserved, even after they had been detached from their crosses, because they were valued as sacred images. The selection here includes earlier examples depicting the Triumphant Christ upright on the cross, standing on a platform, and crowned as victorious over death. Later images represent Christ suffering, as the Passion (Jesus’s torture and death) was emphasized as part of an effort to make Biblical events more immediate for worshipers.
Information
Title
Corpus for a Crucifix
Dates
mid 12th century
Maker
Medium
Bronze with gilding
Dimensions
19 × 18 × 3.5 cm (7 1/2 × 7 1/16 × 1 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Albert Mathias Friend Jr., Class of 1915
Object Number
y1956-107
Place Made
Mosan
Materials
Subject
Albert Mathias Friend Jr.; 1956 bequest to Princeton University Art Museum.
- "Recent acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 16, no. 1 (1957): p. 12-14., p. 12
- Rosalie B. Green, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 19, no. 1 (1960): p. 21-25., fig. 1, p. 22 (illus.); fig. 2, p. 23 (illus.)
- R. G. Calkins, A medieval treasury: an exhibition of Medieval art from the third to the sixteenth century, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1968)., cat. no. 42, p. 129f, pl. 42 (illus.)
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 252 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 135 (illus.)
