‘Behold the Wounds on Christ’: Crucifixion Imagery in Late Medieval Ireland

Abstract

Crucifixion scenes in late medieval Ireland, as was typical elsewhere in Europe at the time, largely present a pitiful image of a wounded and tortured Christ. This paper examines the iconography of these scenes across various media including manuscript illumination and sculpture in stone and metalwork from the late fourteenth to the mid sixteenth century. The iconography is situated within the wider European artistic tradition and within the context of contemporary religious sentiment in Ireland as expressed through the literature and material culture. Finally, the interaction between image/object and the viewer is explored, and it is proposed that such imagery encouraged and often required an active rather than passive participation on behalf of the devotee.

Keywords

• crucifixion imagery
• iconography
• Passion imagery
• late medieval Ireland
• sculpture
• metalwork