Christ Showings His Wounds

ca. 1515-1520

This standing image of the risen Christ wearing the crown of thorns of the Passion and displaying the wounds of the crucifixion seems monumental. With this synthesis of the Man of Sorrows and the Christ of the resurrection, the sculpture triumphantly celebrates the incarnation of the Christian God at a time when individual piety was modelled on the figure and beliefs of Jesus Christ. Carved during the Late Gothic period by a German master, it vividly and colorfully presents the humanity of God, in keeping with the reference to Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of mankind, according to Christian belief. The work is an artistic expression of the Christian faith imbued with sentiment and produced shortly before the Protestant Reformation.