Cleveland Museum of Art

Jesse

Veit Stoss

Date

c. 1500

Medium

Limewood, polychromed

Culture

Germany

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The figure shows the sleeping Jesse, the father of David from the Old Testament. As the ancestor of the family tree of Christ, he was depicted in the Middle Ages sleeping as the starting point of the tree, on whose branches the ancestors of Christ are depicted. Mary with the Christ child is always shown at the top. The figure comes from a wooden altarpiece from an unknown church, possibly in Nuremberg, which is now lost. Veit Stoss is one of the most prominent German sculptors around 1500 who was mainly active in Nuremberg (Bavaria, Germany) and Krakow (Poland), also as a painter and engraver. The family tree of Christ starts from Jesse, the father of David in the Old Testament.

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