Rather than emphasizing his pain and suffering on the cross, this image presents Christ in glory, alive, eyes wide open. He wears a full-length robe connoting his kingly and priestly rank. This type of crucifix is known as the Volto Santo (Holy Face). It is a copy of a sculpture in Lucca, Italy. The Lucca crucifix was likely made in the 700s, but medieval legend held that it was made by Nicodemus, a disciple of Jesus who witnessed the Crucifixion.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Crucifix
Date:ca. 1200–1220
Culture:North Italian
Medium:Wood with polychromy
Dimensions:Overall (Christ): 75 5/8 x 76 1/4 x 11 1/4 in. (192.1 x 193.7 x 28.6 cm) Cross: 89 1/8 x 80 1/2 x 1 in. (226.4 x 204.5 x 2.5 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1947
Accession Number:47.100.54
Inscription: IESUS NA / SAREnV9 / REX IV / dEORVM [should be IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM] (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews [John 19:19])
Said to be from a monastery near Treviso; Sanavio, Padua; [ Enrico Testa, Florence (sold 1928)]; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1928–sold 1947)]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Grand Gallery," October 19, 1974–January 5, 1975.
Casson, Stanley. "Byzantinism." Burlington Magazine 59, no. 344 (November 1931). pp. 211–13, pl. B.
De Francovich, Géza. "Il Volto Santo di Lucca." Bollettino Storico Lucchese 8 (1936). p. 26, n. 5.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seventy-Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1947; Review of the Year 1947." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 7, no. 1 (Summer 1948). p. 14.
Taylor, Francis Henry. "The Archaic Smile: A Commentary on the Arts in Times of Crisis." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 10, no. 8 (April 1952). ill. p. 227.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). p. 131.
Haussherr, Reiner. "Das Imervardkreuz und der Volto-Santo-Typ." Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft 16, nos. 3-4 (1962).
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. p. 27.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 42, pp. 35–36.
Forsyth, William Holmes, and The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." In The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974. p. 4.
Lazzarini, Pietro. Il Volto Santo di Lucca, 782-1982. Lucca: Maria Pacini Fazzi Editore, 1982.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lisbeth. "Romanesque Sculpture in North American Collections. XXIII. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part III: Italy (2)." Gesta 24, no. 4 (1985). no. 11, pp. 164–65, fig. 14.
Semff, Michael. "Appunti sulla scultura lignea romanica del Friuli." In Scultura lignea in Friuli: Atti del simposio internazionale di studi, 20/21 ottobre 1983. Venice: Istituto per l'Enciclopedia del Friuli Venezia Giulia, 1985. p. 113, fig. 145, 146.
Armandi, Marina. "Regnavit a ligno Deus: Il crocefisso tunicato di proporzioni monumentali." Il Volto Santo di Sansepolcro: Un grande capolavoro medievale rivelato dal restauro (1994). p. 134, n. 22, 134–35, n. 36, 135, n. 39, fig. 144, 145.
Zuliani, Fulvio. "Il cantiere di San Marco e la cultura figurativa veneziana fino al sec. XIII." In Storia di Venezia: Temi; L'arte, edited by Rodolfo Pallucchini. Vol. 1. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1994. p. 90.
Tigler, Guido. Il portale maggiore di San Marco a Venezia: Aspetti iconografici e stilistici dei rilievi duecenteschi. Memorie (Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arte. Classe di Scienze Morali, Lettere ed Arte), Vol. 59. Venice: Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 1995. p. 485.
Zuliani, Fulvio. "Le strade italiane del 'gotico': Appunti per una revisione storiografica." Hortus artium medievalium 4 (1998). p. 154, n. 8.
Bertelli, Carlo. "L'esplorazione del sacro e del profano nell'arte dell'étà di Ezzelino." In Ezzelini: Signori della Marca nel cuore dell'impero di Federico II, edited by Carlo Bertelli, and Giovanni Marcadella. Milan: Skira, 2001. p. 50.
Bertelli, Carlo, and Giovanni Marcadella, ed. Ezzelini: Signori della Marca nel cuore dell'impero di Federico II; Catalogo. Milan: Skira, 2001. pp. 72–73.
Ericani, Giuliana. "Le arti in mostra: I criteri di una scelta." In Ezzelini: Signori della Marca nel cuore dell'impero di Federico II, edited by Carlo Bertelli, and Giovanni Marcadella. Milan: Skira, 2001. pp. 56–57.
Marcadella, Giovanni. "Ezzelino, Federico II e la Marca Trevigiana: Le ragioni di questa mostra." In Ezzelini: Signori della Marca nel cuore dell'impero di Federico II, edited by Carlo Bertelli, and Giovanni Marcadella. Milan: Skira, 2001. p. 20.
Zuliani, Fulvio. "Il crocefisso del Metropolitan Museum di New York e il portale di Santa Giustina: Sulle tracce di una maestranza francese in viaggio." In De lapidibus sententiae: Scritti di storia dell'arte per Giovanni Lorenzoni, edited by Tiziana Franco, and Giovanna Valenzano. Padua: Il Poligrafo, 2002. pp. 441–48.
Wixom, William D. "Medieval Sculpture at the Metropolitan: 800 to 1400." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 62, no. 4 (2005). p. 20.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lisbeth, and Jack Soultanian. Italian Medieval Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. no. 24, pp. 100–109.
Brennan, Christine, Christel Hollevoet-Force, and Yaëlle Biro, ed. The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York: Defining Taste from Antiquities to the Avant-Garde. Boston: Brill, 2023. fig. 8.7–8, pp. 370–373.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.
