Imervard Cross
by Christiane Schulze Art And Photography
Title
Imervard Cross
Artist
Christiane Schulze Art And Photography
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The wooden sculpture Jesus Christ at the cross made by a craftsman called Imervard is the most important piece of art in the cathedral. Its name Imervard indicates Nothern Europe. Imervard could have been of Low-German, Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian origin. Among art critics it is undisputed that « Imervard » belongs to the so-called Volto-Santo types, that means a type of large crosses primarily found in Italy and Spain altogether referring to the « highly respected and legendary cross » (volto santo ) in Lucca, Italy.
Originally the tunic was purple, only later it had been changed into night blue decorated with stars. When and where the crucifix was created can only be deduced by critically comparing styles of art. It is made of oak which in some places is worked out to a thickness of 3 cm only. Its back is hollow. In termes of art history it is Romanesque four-nail-cross with a corpse wearing a strictly stylized long garment, with raised head, very small, wide - open eyes under heavy lids and high, thin eyebrows. The connection of the Christ with his cross is absolutely unreal, as if here not a deeply tortured man was hanging at a wooden cross, here the cross is just a symbol in front of which the Lord is « suspended ». It is called a « maiestas-figure ». This unreal aspect is the result of not only extraordinary stylization but of the lengthening of his extremities ( head, hands, feet ) as well and his very flat body. All this becomes the more illustrative as with its high degree of formal independence and abstraction it goes past contemporary style to alienate reality. Although the sculpture of the head shows an exact stydy of lively forms, those are immediately submitted and adapted to the design principles of this figure of the Christ. They seem lengthened, stretched and consequently fitted into the framework of lines and stages of the figure's design. Many generations had forgotten that Imevard is a large relic. The back head, hollow and closed with a drawer carried 30 relics which were rediscovered during an examination, taken out of the head and put into the middle pillar's capital of the Altar of Our Lady. The crucifix probably had been created about 1150 because it was proved before the building of the actual cathedral.
From Description Braunschweiger Dom
Uploaded
December 25th, 2011
Embed
Share