The Crucifixion

Stone, wood, fresco
Monasterio de las Huelgas, Burgos, Spain

This is the Crucifixion image type that came to be dominant after the 16th century. Eyes closed, head hanging down, and arms stretched by the weight of the body, Jesus has expired. He wears the loincloth. Mary and John stand left and right.

For the use of a painted cityscape behind a sculptured crucifixion, see also the later Crucifixion in the Chapel of the High Constable in the Burgos Cathedral. Unlike the latter, the Huelgas fresco gives the background city an orientalized look with an Islamic half-moon ornament on one of the many domes.

Read more about images of the Crucifixion.

• Home Page
• Iconography of the Crucifixion
• This Picture

Photographed at the monastery by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.