The Otto-Matilda Cross, one of the most fabulous pieces in the treasury of Essen Cathedral, Essen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.
The crucified Christ stands above the serpent of Eden. An enamel plaque in the lowest terminal depicts the Abbess Matilda, on the left, and her brother, Otto, Duke of Swabia, on the right. Both wear regal clothing and present a processional cross—the Otto-Matilda Cross itself. Matilda commissioned this work for her monastery at Essen.
Dirupisti vincula mea
Devotees lift a life size crucifix, for the Festa Santo Crocifisso in Monreale, Sicily, Italy.
Dominus flevit
Hans Baldung Grien - Christ on the Cross with the Virgin, Saints Longinus, Mary Magdalen, and John; New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; 1505
A rather striking crucifix from Kloster Marienburg, a former Catholic monastery, in Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany. Following the Reformation, it passed on the Lutheran hands.
From what I gather, this piece, dated to around 1350, is what is called in German as “Schmerzensmannkreuz”— an iconographic type midway between the traditional Man of Sorrows and the Crucifix.
The Great Rood, which hangs from the ceiling of the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad, Birmingham, England, by the great A.W.N. Pugin.
St. Maria im Kapitol by Art History Images (Holly Hayes) on Flickr.
Plague Crucifix; St. Maria im Kapitol, Koln, Deutschland
Very Ingmar Bergman
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