Restored in 2010 with funding from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation through the Museum of Biblical Art.

These two processional standards embellished with sculptures were made for the Scuola del Santissimo Sacramento, a devotional confraternity dedicated to the Holy Sacrament that was founded in 1506 at the church of San Trovaso. Such standards were carried during religious processions throughout Venice, the most important of which was held on the feast day of Corpus Christi, in which representatives of all Venetian confraternities, members of the clergy, and government officials participated. The painted and sculptural decorations of standards added to the magnificent visual display of piety that characterized such processions; the considerable length of the poles, surpassing seven feet in height, would have increased the legibility of the images to the crowds in attendance.

Executed in the late sixteenth century, the Man of Sorrows depicts Christ in a three-quarter-length format upon a pedestal that resembles a capital, complete with curling acanthus leaves and a Eucharistic bundle of grapes. Jesus appears to be halfway between life and death — or rather halfway been death and resurrection — for he is rendered in an upright position and yet already bears the wounds of his crucifixion. Blood streams from the holes left in his hands by the nails, and he gestures toward the gash in his side; the crown of thorns has drawn blood from his forehead as well. Such representations provided viewers with the opportunity to meditate upon the passion and sacrifice of Christ, his body placed on display before them — a direct reference to the devotional focus of a confraternity dedicated to the Holy Sacrament.

The second standard dates to the seventeenth or eighteenth century, and is decorated with an image of the Dead Christ with Angels. Here, too, the mortification of Jesus’ flesh is emphasized, with the wound at his side prominently displayed. An angel kneels behind him and supports his upper body in the manner of a Pietà, while a smaller cherub gathers the end of his shroud and appears to cry into it in a tender expression of grief. There would likely have been a third angel at the center of the composition, holding up the end of the drapery that now appears to hover above Christ. The broader base supporting the figures, sometimes referred to as a boat, is typical of this later period and allows for the inclusion of multiple figures in such a composition. It is decorated with symbols of the passion.

These sculptures were restored to allow their inclusion in the pioneering exhibition Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese, The Man of Sorrows in Venetian Art, which was held at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York from February 10 through June 11, 2011.

The works were restored by conservator Milena Dean, with the guidance of project directors Don Gianmatteo Caputo of the Curia Patriarcale di Venezia and Roberta Battaglia of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Unidentified artist
Man of Sorrows (Processional Standard)
Late sixteenth century, polychromed and gilded wood
Total height 227 cm; crowning sculpture, 73 x 44.5 x 17 cm

Unidentified artist
Dead Christ with Angels (Processional Standard)
Seventeenth or eighteenth century, polychromed and gilded wood
Total height 217 cm; crowning sculpture, 78 x 96 x 36 cm

Puglisi, Catherine and William Barcham, eds. Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese, The Man of Sorrows in Venetian Art. New York: Museum of Biblical Art in association with D. Giles Limited, London, 2011.