Christo Morto
- Date
- 1657–61
- Material
- Bronze with gilding
- Classification
- Metalwork, sculpture
- Collection
- European Art to 1800
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 236
- Dimensions
- 17 5/8 × 13 1/8 × 3 9/16 in. (44.8 × 33.3 × 9 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mark Steinberg Weil and Phoebe Dent Weil
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 245:2021
NOTES
In representing the dead Jesus, Gianlorenzo Bernini focused on the moment described in the Bible, just after Jesus’ final cry. His diaphragm is contracted from exhaling his last breath, and his head has fallen forward toward his chest. His loincloth still flutters. The biblical passage Luke 23:46 describes the event: “Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ Having said this, he breathed his last.”
Bernini was commissioned to make the altar furnishings for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Each set included a cross and corpus, or body of Jesus, and one set was created for each of the 24 altars in the church. The sculptor designed these figures for kneeling worshippers who would view them from below.
Bernini was commissioned to make the altar furnishings for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Each set included a cross and corpus, or body of Jesus, and one set was created for each of the 24 altars in the church. The sculptor designed these figures for kneeling worshippers who would view them from below.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.