Corpus Christi

myminifactory

This captivating Corpus has been convincingly attributed to Antonio Bonvicino, a renowned Venetian carver of wood crucifixes during the early decades of the 15th century. Bonvicino's magnum opus is the monumental Crucified Christ in the church of Santi Apollinare e Cristoforo in Casteldimezzo, which is signed by the sculptor and showcased in Markham Schulz's publication (figs. 1-7). In contrast, the present work is small scale and was likely created for a private devotional setting. Within Bonvicino's body of work, the present sculpture shares striking stylistic similarities with a Cristo Passo in the church of San Carlo Borromeo in Mestre, as well as a Crucified Christ in the Museo del Canton Ticino, Lugano. Both examples display slender torsos and rich, cascading drapery on the hips, characteristics comparable to wood sculpture from the International Gothic style that Markham Schulz associates with Bonvicino's later oeuvre (op. cit.).