Le statue del Cristo crocifisso e morto nelle azioni drammatiche della Passione (XIV-XV secolo). Linee di ricerca

Abstract

This paper intends to provide an initial draft and a methodological framework for further investigations about the use of the statues of the crucified and dead Christ during the representations of the Passion from the XIV to the XV century. In particular, I will discuss four different types of artifact: crucifixes with moveble arms; so-called ‘talking’ crucifixies that have unmoveble limbs but a moveble tongue; jointed sculptures of the suffering Christ and artifacts made with several materials, coated with leather and totally jointed; carved statues of the dead Christ lying in a wooden sarcophagus covered with paintings. My proposal is to distinguish them according to those features that link to different performative actions and, therefore, to different rites celebrated in different spiritual contexts. I consider each of these artworks as a ‘performative image’, that was probably used for a specific performance, playing a certain scene on a very clear ‘stage’ in front of a particular audience.

Keywords

• Medieval theatre
• Medieval drama
• Liturgy and drama
• Visual culture of the Middle Ages
• Performative images
• Acting images
• Wooden crucifix