Relief with Scene from the Legend of the True Cross

ca. 1400

Not on view

This relief, along with another in the collection (acc. no. 23.79.2), once formed part of a narrative that stretched across the back of an altar. Carved from single blocks of marble, the two compositions feature episodes from the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine. In order to bring these distant events into the present, the sculptor employed clothing and character types familiar to fifteenth-century audiences. Here Saint Helena and her retinue witness proof of the True Cross’s identity, when its miraculous touch brings a man back from the dead. Jude, having led Helena to the cross and observed the miracle, converts to Christianity and receives baptism

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Relief with Scene from the Legend of the True Cross
Date: ca. 1400
Culture: South Netherlandish
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: Overall: 15 13/16 x 13 1/16 x 5 9/16 in. (40.2 x 33.2 x 14.1 cm)
Classification: Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923
Object Number: 23.79.1
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross, Master of Rimini, Alabaster, South Netherlandish — Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross
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The Miracle of the Palm Tree on the Flight to Egypt, Walnut, gesso, paint, and gilding, Spanish — The Miracle of the Palm Tree on the Flight to Egypt
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Apostles in Prayer, Oak, South Netherlandish — Apostles in Prayer
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