Figure - Corpus Christi - Fine XVII / Inizio XVIII - Wood, Plaster

Wooden polychrome sculpture of Corpus Christi - Baroque Style - Late 17th / Early 18th century

Lot description

Splendid wooden sculpture depicting the Corpus Christi (Crucified Christ), a superb testament to sacred art and to the profound devotion of Latin America or of Spanish Baroque (Iberian imagery school) at the turn between the late 17th and early 18th century.
The work shows exceptional expressive power and a dramatic quality typical of the Baroque, attributable to the Christus patiens iconography (the Suffering Christ). The tilted face features finely carved facial features in the wood, with half-closed eyes and a mouth agape captured at the moment of agony, framed by a dark beard and hair carved into plastic, vigorous tufts. At the top of the head the old metal pin is still present.
Anatomical rendering is of excellent artisanal quality: the hands show realistically clenched fingers from the spasm of pain and retain the original through-holes intended for the metallic fastening nails. The loincloth (colobium), tightened at the waist by a rough carved cord, is gathered on the right hip and treated with rigid, sharp folds intended to heighten the chiaroscuro contrasts typical of seventeenth-century styling.
The back of the sculpture reveals the workshop-style craftsmanship of the era: the back and thighs are partially planed with chisels and gouges to allow the body to adhere perfectly to the surface of the cross. An extraordinary devotional detail, the flows of blood from the wound of the side have been painted by the artist also on the rear.
The object has not undergone invasive modern restorations, presenting as utterly genuine in material. The macro photographs reveal the millimetric thickness of the original plaster and hide glue support that holds the painted layer, which displays a very dense and fascinating oil crackle. The surface is entirely affected by a tight network of craquelure and micro-lifting of the oil-painted layer, typical of linseed oil paintings.
Dimensions:
• Head-to-toe height: 25.5 cm
• Maximum height (hands-to-feet): 28 cm
• Width (hand-to-hand): 22.5 cm
Conservation status:
The work is structurally sound and in good overall condition, consistent with its great age (over 300 years of life). It shows localized losses and detachment of the polychromy and the prep layer (particularly on the knees, the forehead, and the back of the head) that reveal the underlying wood.

18th century Corpus Christi, carved polychrome wood crucifix, Christ on the Cross 1700, Spanish colonial, Hispano-Sicilian crucifix, antique carved Christ, loincloth twisted cord, halo pin, oil craquelure, sacred church artwork crucifix
Jahrhundert Corpus Christi, Holzkruzifix polychrom, antik geschnitzter Christus, spanisch-kolonial, sizilianisches Kruzifix, Altar-Kruzifix, Tortillon-Lendentuch Seil, Heiligenschein-Stift, ölige Runzelbildung craquelure, Kirchenkunst
Corpus Christi XVIIIe siècle, Christ en bois sculpté polychrome, crucifix antique, colonial espagnol, crucifix sicilien, crucifix d'autel, périzonium à corde torsadée, tige pour auréole, peinture huile ridée craquelure, art sacré église