Italian school, 18th century.

Italian school, 18th century. Christ. Figure in gilded bronze. Wooden cross with bronze applications. Measurements: 60 x 30 x 10 cm (cross); 15 x 13 cm (figure). Christ with three nails, in gilded bronze. This is a late-baroque representation of the Crucifixion, having chosen the moment in which the limbs relax after death. It is no longer an expiring Christ, but the muscles still retain the traces of suffering. The veins of the wrists, the muscles, the ribs of the wiry torso, and so on, are marked under the thin skin in a highly realistic manner. The serpentine form of the body follows models typical of the period. The head, with its bearded face and fine stylised features, falls lifelessly on the right arm. The cloth of purity is draped around the rope, creating a subtle play of chiaroscuro. Overall, the iconographic models of the late Baroque period are followed, in which the pathos is subjected to an expressiveness contained within the harmonious limits of the form.