Bronze plaque of Christ carrying the cross, surrounded by several other figures.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Shiny, rectangular bronze plaque with three-dimensional image of Jesus Christ, a halo on his head, carrying a cross on his left shoulder. Behind him is a figure with a battle helmet holds a rope looped around Jesus’s chest. Before him is a female figure with a halo holding a strip of fabric with a man’s face on it. Over Jesus’s left shoulder is a crowd of people, most with helmets and spears. In front of the crowd is a child figure holding a cylindrical object in their left hand.

Gallery Text

In the late Middle Ages, Christian spirituality increasingly focused on the salvation of individual souls. Devotional practice was no longer confined to the liturgy, but was supplemented with private prayer. Individuals acquired their own prayer books, and the growing aristocratic and bourgeois classes commissioned small devotional works, like the portable ivory shown here. The invention of printmaking led to the proliferation of sacred images, some inspired by earlier manuscript illuminations. Other objects, like the bronze plaque here, were in turn modeled after prints.

[1946.56, 1957.217, 1962.282, BR65.10]

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR65.10
People
Unidentified Artist
Title
Way to Calvary
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, relief
Date
16th century
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Germany, South Germany
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/222622

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2440, Medieval Art
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Gilding
Dimensions
9.53 x 6.99 cm (3 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Harry Friedman in memory of Francis L. Friedman
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
BR65.10
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Charles L. Kuhn, German and Netherlandish Sculpture, 1280-1800, the Harvard Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1965), no. 41 p. 88, repr. as pl. XXXIX

Exhibition History

  • German Sculpture, 1500 - 1960: A New Installation, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/05/1984 - 12/31/1984
  • German Sculpture from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 01/21/1986 - 03/10/1986
  • 32Q: 2440 Medieval, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu