Terms and conditions of use
Processional cross
(1330s)
- Medium
- tempera and gold leaf on wood
- Measurements
- 43.0 × 37.5 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Florence, Italy
- Accession Number
- 170-D5
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1960
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Throughout the medieval period crosses were carried in various Christian processions. Some were decorated on both sides, showing the crucified Jesus dead, and also alive. Evoking his pain and triumph over death simultaneously, such crosses encapsulated the central Christian message: faith in God ensures deliverance from suffering, and resurrection to eternal life. This interpretation of the cross as life-giving is underscored here in the leaf-like ornamentation of the carved, gilded wood. The strikingly realistic, tender representations of Jesus, and the small size of the cross itself, suggest it was made in Florence during the fourteenth century for use in an intimate setting.
- Subjects (general)
- Religion and Mythology
- Subjects (specific)
- crosses (visual works) crucifixes Crucifixion of Christ (New Testament narrative) crucifixions Jesus Christ (Christian character) processional crosses
- Provenance
- Collection of Charles F. Worel, London by 1960 from whom acquired for the Felton Bequest on the advice of A.J.L. McDonnell, 1960.