Cleveland Museum of Art

Leaf from a Missal: Text (verso)

Date

c. 1330–40

Medium

ink, tempera, and gold leaf on parchment

Culture

Bohemia

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The crucified Christ was a central theme of medieval visual art. Each period set its own artistic and iconographic priorities, depending on the function and context of the works. For example, the dead Christ with his head bowed, the side wound dripping with blood, and the richly designed loincloth is characteristic of the 1300s. This miniature is localized to Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia), with its capital Prague as a leading art center of its time. The great plague, however, does not seem to have triggered a surge of innovation here. Below the cross a small skull is visible, Golgotha the site of the crucifixion was often translated as "place of the skull."

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