CATALONIAN PATIENT CHRIST, SECOND HALF OF THE... Lot 10

CATALONIAN PATIENT CHRIST, SECOND HALF OF THE 12th CENTURY polychrome wood H. 172 cm, W. 140 cm, D. 40 cm provenance Collection of the Duke of C. This monumental Christ with a slumped body is typical of the Patiens. His face with closed eyes, tilted towards the shoulder, his arms and knees bent, his thumbs adducted, place him in the Catalan tradition. While the graphic treatment of the thorax and abdomen remains dependent on the Byzantine forms of the early 13th century, the softening of the hairline, the slight indentation of the long perizonium which follows the contours of the thighs and the crossing of the feet in external rotation announce the naturalistic tendencies of the late 13th century. Note the beautiful movement of the right leg, which can be seen in the Christ from the church of Santa Maria de Taüll, now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona (fig. 1). Their bodies show a similar sinuosity of line.