Late antiquity The earliest known artistic representations of crucifixion predate the Christian era, including
Greek representations of mythical crucifixions inspired by the use of the punishment by the
Persians. The
Alexamenos graffito, currently in the museum in the
Palatine Hill, Rome, is a Roman
graffito from the 2nd century CE which depicts a man worshiping a crucified donkey. This graffito, though apparently meant as an insult, The text scrawled around the image reads in Greek , which approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships God". In the first three centuries of
Early Christian art, the crucifixion was rarely depicted. Some
engraved gems thought to be 2nd or 3rd century have survived, but the subject does not appear in the art of the
Catacombs of Rome, and it is thought that at this period the image was restricted to
heretical groups of Christians. The earliest Western images clearly originating in the mainstream of the church are 5th-century, including the scene on the doors of
Santa Sabina, Rome.
Constantine I forbade crucifixion as a method of execution, and early church leaders regarded crucifixion with horror, and thus, as an unfit subject for artistic portrayal. The purported discovery of the
True Cross by Constantine's mother,
Helena, and the development of
Golgotha as a site for
pilgrimage, together with the dispersal of fragments of the
relic across the Christian world, led to a change of attitude. It was probably in
Syria Palaestina that the image developed, and many of the earliest depictions are on the
Monza ampullae, small metal flasks for holy oil, that were pilgrim's souvenirs from the
Holy Land, as well as 5th-century
ivory reliefs from Italy. Prior to the
Middle Ages, early Christians preferred to focus on the "triumphant" Christ, rather than a dying one, because the concept of the
risen Christ was so central to their faith. The plain cross became depicted, often as a "glorified" symbol, as the
crux gemmata, covered with jewels, as many real early medieval
processional crosses in goldsmith work were.
Eastern church , from the
Syriac Rabbula Gospels, 586 CE Early depictions showed a living Christ, and tended to minimize the appearance of suffering, so as to draw attention to the positive message of resurrection and faith, rather than to the physical realities of execution. In the
early history of the church in Ireland, important events were often commemorated by erecting pillars with elaborate crucifixes carved into them, such as where
Saint Patrick, returning as a missionary bishop, saw the place he was held captive in his youth. Early Byzantine depictions such as that in the
Rabbula Gospels often show Christ flanked by
Longinus and
Stephaton with their spear and pole with vinegar. According to the gospels, the vinegar was offered just before Christ died, and the lance used just after, so the presence of the two flanking figures symbolizes the "double reality of God and man in Christ". In images from after the end of the
Byzantine Iconoclasm, Christ is shown as dead, but his "body is undamaged and there is no expression of pain"; the Eastern church held that Christ's body was invulnerable. The S-shaped slumped body type was developed in the 11th century. These images were one of the complaints against Constantinople given by Rome in the
Great Schism of 1054, although the
Gero Cross in
Cologne is probably nearly a century older. , The Impenitent thief to our right, late 1400s Greek painters from Constantinople heavily influenced Italian Byzantine art.
Nikolaos Philanthropinos, Theophanes of Constantinople, and Apollonios were active in the Venetian Empire and taught painting. Philanthropinos painted
St Mark's Basilica after the fire in the 1430s. Crete became the epicenter of Greek painting during the Renaissance and Baroque eras the style became known as the
Cretan school of painting. Countless painters depicted the Crucifixion. Their work was heavily influenced by
Venetian painting but followed the Greek mannerism prevalent at the time known as the
Maniera Greca.
Andreas Pavias uniquely depicted the
Crucifixion following a gothic style and the painter depicted the
impenitent thief turned around with his back facing the viewers to denote the difference between the two historical biblical figures. Greek painters in the Venetian world began to follow the new style. Another notable painting that falls between the late Cretan school and
Heptanese school is
The Crucifixion (Moskos) by
Ioannis Moskos painted in 1711.
Western church , , by
Cimabue,
Florence, 1287–1288 The earliest Western images of a dead Christ may be in the
Utrecht Psalter, probably before 835. Other early Western examples include the
Gero Cross and the reverse of the
Cross of Lothair, both from the end of the 10th century. The first of these is the earliest near life-size sculpted cross to survive, and in its large scale represents "suffering in its extreme physical consequences", a trend that was to continue in the West. Such figures, especially as
roods, large painted or sculpted crucifixes hung high in front of the
chancel of churches, became very important in Western art, providing a sharp contrast with
Eastern Orthodox traditions, where the subject was never depicted in
monumental sculpture, and increasingly rarely even in small Byzantine ivories. By contrast, an
altar cross, almost always a
crucifix, became compulsory in Western churches in the Middle Ages. That it should be a crucifix was first specified in the
Roman Missal of 1570 and small wall-mounted crucifixes were increasingly popular in
Catholic homes from the
Counter-Reformation, if not before. The image of a crucifix that bled when mocked and struck by Jews also gained popularity during this time. As a broad generalization, the earliest depictions, before about 900, tended to show all three crosses (those of Jesus, the
Good Thief and the
Bad Thief), but later medieval depictions mostly showed just Jesus and his cross. From the Renaissance either type might be shown. The number of other figures shown depended on the size and medium of the work, but there was a similar trend for early depictions to show a number of figures, giving way in the
High Middle Ages to just the
Virgin Mary and Saint
John the Evangelist, shown standing on either side of the cross, as in the
Stabat Mater depictions, or sculpted or painted on panels at the end of each arm of a rood cross. The soldiers were less likely to be shown, but others of the party with Mary and John might be. Angels were often shown in the sky, and the
Hand of God in some early depictions gave way to a small figure of
God the Father in the heavens in some later ones, those these were always in the minority. Other elements that might be included were the sun and moon (evoking the
darkening of the heavens at the moment of Christ's death), and
Ecclesia and Synagoga. There were also representations of the alleged aggressors, including depictions of Jews mocking, glaring, slapping, and ultimately crucifying Jesus. Although according to the Gospel accounts his clothing was removed from Jesus before his crucifixion, most artists have thought it proper to represent his lower body as draped in some way. In one type of sculpted crucifix, of which the
Volto Santo in Lucca is the classic example, Christ continued to wear the long
collobium robe of the Rabbula Gospels. The motif of the Pelican in her Piety – a mother pelican
plucking flesh from her breast to feed her chicks – appears at the top of the cross in many medieval crucifixion scenes. The mother pelican signifies Jesus, sacrificing his flesh for man's (the chicks') salvation. , c. 1330 In the Gothic period more elaborate narrative depictions developed, including many extra figures of
Mary Magdalene, disciples, especially
The Three Marys behind the Virgin Mary, soldiers often including an officer on a horse, and angels in the sky. The moment when
Longinus the centurion pierces Christ with his spear (the "
Holy Lance") is often shown, and the blood and water spurting from Christ's side is often caught in a chalice held by an angel. In larger images the other two crosses might return, but most often not. In some works
donor portraits were included in the scene. Such depictions begin in the late 12th century, and become common where space allows in the 13th century. Related scenes such as the
Deposition of Christ,
Entombment of Christ and
Nailing of Christ to the Cross developed. In the Late Middle Ages, increasingly intense and realistic representations of suffering were shown, paired with increasingly grotesque and malicious depictions of Pontius Pilate and the allegedly murderous Jews, reflecting the development of highly emotional
andachtsbilder subjects and devotional trends such as
German mysticism; some, like the
Throne of Mercy,
Man of Sorrows and
Pietà, related to the Crucifixion. The same trend affected the depiction of other figures, notably in the "
Swoon of the Virgin", who is very commonly shown fainting in paintings of between 1300 and 1500, though this depiction was attacked by theologians in the 16th century, and became unusual. After typically more tranquil depictions during the
Italian Renaissance—though not its
Northern equivalent, which produced works such as the
Isenheim Altarpiece—there was a return to intense emotionalism in the
Baroque, in works such as
Peter Paul Rubens's
Elevation of the Cross. The scene always formed part of a cycle of images of the
Life of Christ after about 600 (though it is noticeably absent before) and usually in one of the
Life of the Virgin; the presence of Saint John made it a common subject for altarpieces in churches dedicated to him. From the late Middle Ages various new contexts for images were devised, from such large scale monuments as the
"calvaire" of
Brittany and the
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy to the thousands of small
wayside shrines found in many parts of Catholic Europe, and the
Stations of the Cross in the majority of Catholic churches. File:Meister der Schule von Nowgorod 002.jpg|
Russian Orthodox depiction of crucifixion by a painter of the
Novgorod school, 1360 File:3556 - Milano, S. Carlo al C.so - Crocifisso sec. XIV - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 22-Jun-2007.jpg|14th-century wood crucifix,
Milan File:Christ-on-the-cross- Fra Carnev.jpg|
Christ on the Cross by
Fra Carnevale, circa 1445–1467 File:StrasbourgCath Chaire 07.JPG|Crucifix on the pulpit of
Strasbourg Cathedral, 1485 File:Santíssimo Cristo 02.jpg|
Cristo de La Laguna,
Flemish-Brabanzon origin, 1510–14.
Real Santuario del Cristo de La Laguna,
San Cristóbal de La Laguna File:Wittenberg in winter 2005 47.jpg|The
tympanum of the
Thesis Door at the
Castle Church in Wittenberg depicts
Martin Luther and
Philip Melanchthon kneeling in prayer, facing the crucified Christ. File:Albrecht Altdorfer - Christus am Kreuz mit Maria und Johannes (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel).jpg|
Crucifixion by
Albrecht Altdorfer, circa 1514–1516, with tiny
donor couple among the feet of the main figures File:Cristo crucificado.jpg|
Cristo crucificado by
Diego Velázquez, 1632, showing a
Baroque return to realism and emotion in the depiction File:Kremlvariousflickr10.jpg|Crucifix on top of the
iconostasis of Russian Orthodox
Church of the Twelve Apostles in
Moscow File:KongoCrucifix.jpg|Seventeenth-century copper alloy crucifix,
Democratic Republic of the Congo File:Russian crucifix.jpg|18th-century Russian Orthodox brass crucifix File:Crucificado de Luján Pérez, 1793.jpg|
Crucified by José Luján Pérez, 1793,
Cathedral of Santa Ana,
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria File:Asseenfromthecross-vi.jpg|
Crucifixion, seen from the Cross by the French painter
James Tissot, 1886–1894, shows the view from the perspective of the crucified, and is regarded as an early example of the transition to modern art. File:Gabriel Max 1866 St Julia img02.jpg|
Gabriel von Max's 1866 painting
Martyress depicts a crucified young woman and a young man laying flowers at her feet – a scene not corresponding to any of the female martyrs attested in formal Christian
hagiography File:Berlin Rosenkranz-Basilika Wandbild Kreuzigung.jpg|Mural of the Crucifixion in the
Rosary Basilica (Berlin), 1906 File:Crucifix of the Church of Saint Mary of the Angels, Singapore - 20101128-01.jpg|Crucifix at the
Church of St Mary of the Angels,
Singapore, 2004 File:Innsbruck 2 281.jpg|Crucifixes fashioned out of coral,
Ambras Castle,
Innsbruck,
Austria, date uncertain File:Ceremony of consecration of the Main temple 31.jpg|Crucifix at the
Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, late 2010s File:Cloisters-final-intsall-1.jpg|
Stations of the Cross (station 13) sculpture by
Lundeen Sculpture, 2018
Modern art Crucifixion has appeared repeatedly as a theme in many forms of
modern art. The
surrealist Salvador Dalí painted
Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus), representing the cross as a
hypercube. Fiona Macdonald describes the 1954 painting as showing a classical pose of Christ superimposed on a mathematical representation of the
fourth dimension that is both unseeable and spiritual; Gary Bolyer assesses it as "one of the most beautiful works of the modern era." The sculpture
Construction (Crucifixion): Homage to Mondrian, by
Barbara Hepworth, stands on the grounds of
Winchester Cathedral.
Porfirio DiDonna's abstract
Crucifixion is one of a number of religious works he painted in the 1960s, "blending the artist's devotion to the
liturgy and his commitment to painting". The "Welsh Window", given to the
16th Street Baptist Church after it was bombed by four
Ku Klux Klansmen in 1963, is a work of support and solidarity. The stained glass window depicts a black man, arms outstretched, reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus; it was sculpted by
John Petts, who also initiated a campaign in Wales to raise money to help rebuild the church. Photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe's 1975 self-portrait shows the artist, nude and smiling, posed as if crucified. The 1983 painting
Crucifixion, by
Nabil Kanso, employs a perspective that places the viewer behind Christ's cross. In 1987 photographer
Andres Serrano created
Piss Christ, a controversial photograph that shows a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine, in which Serrano intended to depict sympathetically the abuse of Jesus by his executioners. In the 1990s,
Marcus Reichert painted a series of crucifixions, though he did not identify the figure as Christ, but as a representation of human suffering. Other artists have used crucifixion imagery as a form of protest. In 1974,
Chris Burden had himself crucified to a
Volkswagen in
Trans-Fixed. Robert Cenedella painted a crucified Santa Claus as a protest against Christmas commercialization, displayed in the window of New York's Art Students League in December 1997. In August 2000, performance artist
Sebastian Horsley had himself crucified without the use of any
analgesics. File:Porfirio DiDonna Crucifixion 1964.jpg|
Crucifixion by
Porfirio DiDonna, 1964, oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches File:Construction Crucifixion Homage to Mondrian crop.jpg|
Construction (Crucifixion): Homage to Mondrian, 1966, by
Barbara Hepworth File:Burden-Transfixed.jpg|
Chris Burden's 1974 performance piece
Trans-Fixed, in which he is crucified on a
Volkswagen File:Marcus Reichert painting Crucifixion VII 1991.jpg|
Marcus Reichert, Crucifixion VII (1991), oil and charcoal on linen with newsprint collage, 74" x 62" File:Stacja IX Jezus upada po raz trzeci.jpg|
Jesus Falls the Third Time, a photographic performance by
Łukasz Jankowski-Wojtczak, 2011
Popular art Crucifixion in popular art, as with modern art, is sometimes used for its shock value. For example, a World War I
Liberty bond poster by
Fernando Amorsolo depicts a German soldier nailing an American soldier, his arms outspread, to the trunk of a tree. Crucifixion imagery is also used to make points in
political cartoons. An image of a
skinhead being crucified is a popular symbol among the skinhead subculture, and it is used to convey a sense of societal alienation or persecution against the subculture. File:18960415 antisemitic political cartoon in Sound Money.jpg|
Antisemitic American political cartoon, 1896 File:Your Liberty Bond will help stop this Crisco restoration and colours.jpg|Liberty Bond poster by
Fernando Amorsolo File:Sergey Solomko 025.JPG|Postcard protesting German occupation of Poland.
Sergey Solomko, circa 1915–17 File:Crucified Skinhead.svg|A crucified skinhead, an identifying symbol of the
skinhead subculture ==Print media==