Leaf from Ms. Ludwig II 7 with The Crucifixion

From the Getty Museum record

This illuminated leaf depicts the Christian story of Christ’s Crucifixion. The cross with its wooden grain clearly indicated provides a strong vertical and horizontal component for the composition, which is then visually belied by the off-kilter crossbar above. To Christ's sides, figures with the sponge and lance peep out from behind the more dominant figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John. Crowning the whole and bursting the bounds of the decorative frame is a colorful vision of the pelican feeding her young by piercing her own breast, which serves as a symbol of Christ's self-sacrifice for humanity’s sins. The leaf was once part of the illustrated prefatory cycle of a [Gospel book](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1359) that was made in 1615 in Isfahan, Persia, and illustrated by the famous Armenian artist, Mesrop of Khizan, and that now belongs to the Getty.The manuscript’s prefatory images were removed over fifty years before it came to the Getty Museum. Another leaf from the parent manuscript, showing the [Baptism of Christ](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1482/) was acquired by the Getty in 1985. A third leaf, showing the [Nativity with the Adoration of Shepherds and Magi](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/343233) was acquired in 2019.