Marble
University of Notre Dame
Loading navigation...

Cruz de Animas with Two Carved Kneeling Figures

Date

ca. 1820

Creator

Mexican

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)

Cite This
Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Open external viewer application
  • Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Painted and sculpted cruces de animas (crosses of souls) became popular in eigheenth-century Querétaro and Guanajuato, where they were used in personal devotions and to comfort the dying. Their iconography is standardized: God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear above the crucified Christ, who is surrounded by the instruments of the Passion and the sun and moon, with the Virgin of Sorrows and Saint Michael below. The base depicts Adam and Eve, the Blessed Sacrament, Death threatening a bedridden person, and a row of souls suffering in Purgatory. Cruces were sometimes made in the workshops of masters and journeymen who emulated European aesthetic standards in order to charge more for their compositions, but in this example the Holy Spirit is depicted as a hummingbird, a truly Mexican concept. Refined brushwork marks the features on this cross, but the souls reflect a less-experienced hand. The sculpted male and female appear to represent the living, and Death draws his bow to shoot the dying person. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the cruces under suspicion that the shrinking figure of Christ and growing instruments of the Passion indicated that cruces were being used in witchcraft. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Mexican
ca. 1820
Sculpture
Oil on wood and canvas
2001.004.004
Adam
crucifixes
devotional images
Eve
God the Father
Holy Spirit
Jesus Christ
moons
Passion of Christ
suns
Trochilidae
Not on view, please request access
20 7/8 x 9 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. (53.04 x 24.77 x 6.35 cm)
Fritz and Mildred Kaeser Endowment for Liturgical Art

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.